


Little Lord

by Inkognito97



Series: Transformers [1]
Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Airachnid is a jerk, Changing POV, Chaos, Fighting, Fluff, Friendship, Funny, Gen, Happy Ending, Insecticons - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Search for a Cure, Shockwave's inventions, Sraplets, Starscream is a jerk, Taking care of a child, Trouble, baby Megatron, badass Shockwave, bit of swearing, mother Soundwave, protective Soundwave, resonance blaster, turned into child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-25 19:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 26,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2633528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkognito97/pseuds/Inkognito97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The mighty Lord Megatron was accidently turned into a Sparkling and Soundwave has to take care of him. Will Knockout and Shockwave be able to find a cure? And what about Starscream? Will he use this opportunity to terminate Megatron once and for all?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime, or any of its characters, they belong to Hasbro.
> 
> Authors Note: This story is written in Soundwaves POV (most of the time)  
> Italic: thoughts  
> Thick: Records played by Soundwave

It was a normal day onboard the Nemesis. I was doing my normal work, monitoring the ship and its travellers and decoding the last coordinates of the relics as Lord Megatron entered the, apart from me, empty control bridge.

"Soundwave, how is you progress with finding the left relics?”, questioned Lord Megatron.

But instead of answering I tipped on the keyboard and stepped aside, allowing my Lord to see the screen.

"Good work Soundwave! Now, open a ground bridge to these coordinates!" playing a record of Megatrons voice, I replied,  **“Starscream, go and find the relic...!”**

"Play the rest of the record."

**“...and beware if you fail me again!”**

"Does this answer you question?" I nodded.

 

_I fully understood. Megatron had punished Starscream after his failure with the last relic. Starscream is a disgrace for all the Decepticons, but Megatron won’t throw him out! But, who am I to judge Lord Megatron?_

 

On my visor appeared a number of different cybertronian symbols.

"Forge of Solus Primus…, I see! Well, open the ground bridge!" Right behind Megatron appeared a green shimmering portal, which he entered, just in time as a scratched and damaged Starscream walked into the control room.

 

Stumbling and tripping the wounded second in command walked in and looked from me to the open portal and then back to me again. Walking towards the control panel in order to get informed, he suddenly tripped and barged into me. We crashed into the control panel and the ground bridge vanished before it appeared again and finally exploded, flooding the room in bright lights. _Of course, Starscream appears and suddenly everything goes wrong! What have I expected?_ I pushed the second in command away from me and he fell right onto the floor. He whined. _Wimp!_ As I looked in the direction of the ground bridge, I froze… Where the ground bridge was a few minutes ago, sat now… a sparkling…. but not just any sparkling, it was… “Lord Megatron?” Starscream shouted.  

 

I slowly made my way to the Sparkling, Starscream right behind me. As I reached, well, my little lord, he looked up at me with bright purple optics. His optics showed no fear, instead they showed… recognition? _Does he recognize me? Has just Lord Megatron's body shrunk and his memories along with his personality were still as they used to be?_ Suddenly the Sparkling reached up with his little arms and looked up at me expectantly. _What does he want?_

“Aww, little Sparkling Megatron wants to be hold by you, Soundwave! Isn’t this sweet?” Starscream said mockingly.

 _He wants to be hold? By me? This is just… awkward!_ I did not move and the optics of the little creature filled with Energon tears and his lips trembled.

“You make him cry, Soundwave!”

 **”Stop being ridiculous and do something useful!”** I lightly pushed Starscream forward and pointed with my finger to the Sparkling.

“Alright, alright! There is no reason to snap at me!” Starscream bend down and put Megatron on his arm, who in return stopped whimpering.

“What now? Shall we bring him to Shockwave?” I nodded.

“Whatever…” He started walking and I followed close behind. _What a surprise. He is not stumbling anymore…_ With that, we made our way to Knockout and Shockwave, who hopefully would find a cure for this mess.


	2. A 'little' Problem...

Once we finally arrived in the Medbay, Starscream sat the Sparkling on a berth and we waited for Shockwave and Knockout, who I informed to come. We did not have to wait long till they arrived.

"What is so important that I have to interrupt my waxing program and..." Knockout froze dead in his tracks as he saw Lord Megatron and Shockwave bumped right into him. "Watch out for the paint!" the red bot yelled, but Shockwave ignored him as he slowly approached the Sparkling, who was nibbling on his own finger.

"How can something like this happen?" I looked to Starscream.

"What? Oh yes, ah. Well, there was a little... defect with the control panel...and the ground bridge collapsed... ah yes." _L_ _iar!_  

"I, see... mmh. As the ground bridge collapsed, it came to a time-space paradoxes. This would explain Lord Megatrons transformation back into a sparkling, without any knowledge of his life. At least I assume that he does not remember anything," the one eyed bot briefly glanced at the silver Sparkling.

"And now in normal Cybertronian", said Starscream and Knockout at the same time, "so we can understand it as well!"

"Well..."

" **Enough! ~can you fix it?"** All three stared at me.

"Maybe, but only with the right tools. If I get a sample of Lord Megatron's blood, I should be able to make a cure," he was already halfway towards his work station, where he kept most of his devices.

"But blood samples and Sparklings do not mix well!" was Knockout's only comment.

“Then it would be useful, if you two”, he motioned to Starscream and Knockout “to hold him down.”

 

The little Sparkling obviously was not happy to be held down. Actually this was the understatement of the millenia. He was pretty grumpy and tried his hardest to break out of Knockout's and Starscream's hold.

_Honestly, I would do the same. I am not a friend of physical contact, especially not with Decepticons like Starscream. Let alone from Autobots!_

As Shockwave injected the needle in one of the Sparklings arms, Megatron started crying.

“Good job, Shockwave! Now he is crying and very loud! And he scratched my beuatiful paint even more!” Shockwave ignored the medic's comment again and got to work.

“Nobody cares for your paint Knockout!” Starscream grumbled.

“At least I pay attention to my appearance! Not like somebody else with dents and scratches everywhere on him! Tell me, Starscream, how much of them were caused by Megatron and how much by the Autobots?”

“Why you little…” and the shouting match began, which made the Sparkling cry even more, not that any of them noticed.  _I wonder who the real Sparkling is; Lord Megatron or these two?_

“Would you be so kind to shut up? I am trying to work here!” This made them stop! _Thank the Allspark! One problem is solved._

“And can somebot be so kind to solace the Sparkling? It is unbearable!" I could not agree more with Shockwave.

“Alright, alright! No reason to go ballistic! I will take him, my paint is ruined anyway!”

 

Apparently the Sparkling did not want to be hold, at least not from Knockout. _I wonder why..._ He even tried to wiggle his way out.

“Hey! Stay here!”

“You are holding him completely wrong!” _Oh Primus, here we go again… I can feel a headache starting to forn…_

“How do you know?!” Knockout demanded to know.

“I just know!”  _What a great argument._

“Then why don’t you take him?” the red painted Deception asked.

“Then give him to me already!”

“FINE! Here!” Before it could get even worse I stepped in and arranged myself in front of Knockout, presenting Starscream my back.

**“~progress with finding the left relics? Forge of Solus Primus. ~open ground bridge! Breakdown!”**

“Whoa, slow down! You want me to go finding this relic with Breakdown?” I nodded.

“Whatever. As long as Starscream is not coming with us, everything is fine!” With that he left the Medbay. I turned around to Starscream just in time to hear a loud thud and said bot yell, ”Ouch! The little pest bit me!” Megatron started to cry again. I sighed mentally. _My headaches are getting worse…_

 

Starscream bent down in order to pick the Sparkling up again but said Sparkling crawled away. He did not stop crawling till he reached me, or better my leg, all the while dodging Starscream's pitiful attempts to recapture him. Megatron looked up at me, still crying, and clung to my leg. I forced myself to hold completely still. _Starscream, get over here right now and take him away! I still hate physical contact! Even with sweet little Sparklings… No! Stop thinking that! He. Is. Not. Sweet. HE is Lord Megatron, mighty leader of the Decepticons._ Starscream reached for the Sparkling, but it only made matters worse.

He clung to my leg even more and looked up at me with pleading eyes, as he said, “Mu…mum…Mummy!” _MUMMY? This could not be happening._

“Just pick him up already! His cries are annoying," Shockwave suddenly said from right behind me. I just looked at him. "Somebot has to take care of him anyway! The cure will take a while and I have more than that to do!”

“Soundwave and babysitting? Are you kidding me? Let me take him!” _I do not like the look on Starscreams face as he said this. Is he planning to kill a helpless Sparkling? That would suit him right…_

“Sparklings need somebot to take care of them. It is only logical that his keeper is somebot he trusts and likes.” I looked down to the still crying Sparkling. _Primus, why is something like this always happening to me? Slag it!_

 

I slowly, very slowly took my tentacles out and guided them to the Sparkling. Carefully picking him up with the tentacles, I brought him closer to my chest. Once I held him securely against my chest and therefore against Laserbeak as well, he started to calm down. Eventually I even wrapped my arms around the small not, like a carrier would do, and he started to completely relax in my hold. He stopped crying and clung to my chest plates and snuggled into them. _Keep calm, Soundwave. It is for a greater cause…_

“Since this matter has been clarified now, we can switch to more important tasks at hand," Shockwave stated and he sounded way too smug for my liking. Starscream just scoffed and walked away.), leaving the three of us behind.

“Since he likes you, maybe something he stilldoes remember from before the incident, he should stay in your quarters as well. He is safe there!” _Great, just great! "_ Do not worry Soundwave; before the day is over I will have a bed ready for him. You just have to bring it in your quarters and till then you have to take him with you!” _Can this day become any worse?  "_ Oh, and before you ask, it will take a few weeks for me to make the cure. Maybe longer, it depends on how fast I can find the missing components. But for now, I need peace!” with that he pushed me out of the Medbay…

_Damn it! I just had to ask…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the chapter!:)  
> Please, tell me what you think!! ^^
> 
> Inkognito


	3. Battle for leadership

Standing outside the Medbay with a Sparkling clung to my frame, I decided to go back to the control bridge. Unlike Starscream, I had serious and important work to do, so I made my way through the corridors of the Nemesis. Luckily without any Vehicon seeing me, or rather us. _Actually this had nothing to do with luck. I supervise the whole ship and can see were Vehicons are and were not._ _By the way, I shpuld mention that I do_ _not believe in luck!_

 

After I entered the control bridge I locked the door behind me. I do not want any other disturbance… _For today I had enough!_  I put Lord Megatron on the ground to my feet and start typing on the control panel, just in time for Knockout and Breakdown's respond. Then again, they had probably tried to contact a few times already.

"We have the relic. Open the ground bridge,” Breakdown briefly explained.The ground bridge opened a few metres behind me and Knockout stepped through with Breakdown following close behind him. I slightly turned around, when the sound of approaching steps grew very close.

“We have good and bad news," Knockout started with one servo on his hip and the other making some strange gesture in the air. “We found the relic," he motioned to Breakdown, who was holding a big, golden hammer, “but the one I took with me, was broken…”

“Before we do anything else, can I bring this hammer into the warehouse?” I nodded to Breakdown, who seemed to be out of breeth, and turned back to the control panel to unlock the door. Tye bulky bot nodded his head and turned away with his cargo, the ship's medic following him. After they left I made sure that little Megatron was fine. He was crawling all over the place, when I suddenly remembered that I knew nothing about Sparklings. The next step was clear. I would search the data banks in order to gain the needed knowledge. I plugged in my tentacles and started my research, always with one optic on the Sparkling, who was not so quietly exploring his surroundings.

 

Half an hour later, I was done. Surprisingly, with no more interruptions and without any disturbance from the Sparkling. After he circled the room two times he sat by my side again and laid his head against one of my legs. He almost fell asleep, but Steve, one of the higher ranked Vehicons, entered the control room.

He saluted, “Sir, we have a problem with the navigation systems in the back of the ship. Would you take a look, please?”

I gave a silent order to Laserbeak, who unclasped from my chest plates, revealing my frame, and flew out of the room with Steve following. Megatron, who watched this scenario with fascination, was about to follow Laserbeak as well, but I stepped in front of him and set my foot in his way. He almost looked mad at me but his expression changed very fast as he clung to my leg _again_ and held on to it. This time he also put his little feet onto mine and was now standing on my foot. I stepped back reflexively and took the Sparkling with me, which made the Sparkling giggle. _Actually, this is kind of cute. Yes, I admit it, he IS sweet._ He looked up at me with pleading eyes. _Does he want me to do it again?_

In this moment Starscream called me via commlink, “Soundwave, I require you here at the commando bridge, now! Bring Megatron with you! Starscream over and out!”

_Great, what does he want now? And how comes that I seem to be the only one with work on this damn ship?_

Laserbeak appeared in the doorway and clasped to my chest again. He reported to me that the problems were fixed. _At least one thing is solved, and now to Starscream._ I started to walk and the Sparkling held on even tighter to me, in order not to fall down. He also giggled more and more with each step I took. It was a strange sound, when you considered that it was coming from Megatron.  _It may be pretty hard to walk like that and it surely look hilarious or even awkward, but at least my arms are free. Actually, I did not care right now, not as long as my Lord was happy... and not in any danger!_ Like this I made my ways through the corridors of the Nemesis.

 

Finally standing right before the door to the commando bridge, I opened the door and stepped inside. The room was full of Decepticons and not all of then were Vehicons. Airachnid, the inofficial Insecticon leader and even Dreadwing were there too. Only Knockout and Shockwave were missing. Probably because they had work to do, making the cure for Lord Megatron for example.

Starscream now approached me and stopped only when he was right in front of me.

“Ah, there you are. Now give me the Sparkling,” he greeted me as he bent down. Megatron clenched my leg now so tight, it almost hurts. _Is he afraid of Starscream or does he simple not like him? Whatever it is, I will not hand Megatron over when he is uncomfortable with the situation! I am his caretaker after all!_ I stepped back, out of Starscreams reach and picked the Sparkling up with my tentacles until I held him in my arms again.

“Fine, then keep him! It does not matter!” _Was there hate in his voice? Or perhaps something completely different... something like anger. I questioned his position as second in command after all._

He stepped beside me instead, “Fellow Decepticons, as you can see, our mighty Lord was accidently turned into a Sparkling! You will all agree that a Sparkling cannot rule an army. This is the reason why I take the lead for now!”

A lot of muttering went through the crowd, until one of the Vehicons stepped boldly forward, “Why should you lead the Decepticons? Why not Airachnid or Soundwave instead?” _It seems they remember the last times Starscream tried to take Lord Megatron’s rightful place as the leader! Laughable, really!_

“Because I am the second in Commend! Soundwave is just the third and Airachnid just an officer. Any other questions? No? Good! Then this meeting is finished!” he turned to me again and in his optics flickered a furious flame, "And you will hand over the Sparkling, that's an order!”

**“I do not take orders from cowards!”**

The surrounding officers gasped at my statement, but I did not care. _My first priority is my true master!_ Starscream got angrier with every passing second. For him it was bad enough that the Vehicons' doubted his position and now me as well.

“Well, and I will not tolerate disobedience. Now hand him over, or I will make sure you will pay for your insolence!”

“How about everybody keeps calm?” Knockout, who just entered, interrupted, “I am sure we can solve this in another way!” But I already  _had enough!_

I gave Knockout the Sparkling, ignoring the little one's protest, and ordered,  **“Medbay! Now!”** He ran out, followed by Breakdown and I turned to Starscream then.  **“Bring it one!”**

“As you wish…” was the last thing Starscream said, before he attacked me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the chapter!!  
> Tell me, what you think! :)
> 
> Inkognito!


	4. Just like old times...

I  dodged Starscream’s pitiful attempt to slice me with practiced ease and I was able to get a hold of his arms and hurled him across the whole room into the now fleeing crowd. He landed on his back with a pained yell and he struggled to get up, while fixing me with an evil glare.

"You will pay for this," he threatened. I was not at all impressed.

He screamed as he aimed with his missile at me. I could dodge the first one without any problems, but I had not calculated the second one to be shot as well and it hit me with full force in my left shoulder. Great pain ran through my body and my left hand covered the wound reflexively. Warm Energon came flowing from the wound and over my digits.

"Oh, does it hurt?" Starscream taunted, "Good!"

_At least he has no more missiles! He now has to fight bot to bot ... hopefully my skills are still as good as they used to be!_

He came for me as I rejected my hand from my wound. I blocked his hits. Right, left, right and from above. He was about to use his claws and I shielded my visor with my arms. I crossed them before my visor and let him hit me. I waited for the right time, for an opportunity to hit him back and it arrived sooner than I had anticipated. I opened my arms and reached back with my right one and punched him right into his face. A shocked and pained expression appeared on it, as the so called 'second in command' stumbled backwards. I hit him again, dodged his punch and jumped lightly to dodge a kick. I spun around mid air and sent him with a hard kick into his chest, right into the next control panel.

"Ahh!" he screamed.  _How fitting his name is..._

He crashed right into it and destroyed the whole panel. _I may be a little rusty, but it is still more than enough for Starscream!_ He was about to get up as I ran toward him. I reached him just in time to punch him through the glass windows at the front of the Nemesis. He went right through it, but was able to transform mid air. I ran to the hole and jumped out, transforming as well. I had almost forgotten the wound and Energon that was streaming out of it.

 

The fight continued in the air. We circled each other again and again and were shooting at one another. In his jet form he could easily dodge my shots. _His vehicle mode is way faster than mine… In the long run I have no chance against him, not in the air that is. All I have to do is hit him once, but then with full force so that he is forced to land. Or even better, so that he will crash!_ I let Laserbeak ‘free’ once more and we now chased him in an attempt to hit him. I was able to distract him long enough for Laserbeak to shoot at his gear and thankfully it was a full hit.  _Finally!_ He had no more control over his vehicle mode and was flying, or better falling, in direction of the Nemesis. Laserbeak latched onto me again and we were following Starscream’s track of smoke that was rising high into the air.

 

Transforming once more I landed on both feet on the deck of the Nemesis. Starscream had transformed back as well. He was crawling out of a hole in the deck. His frame was covered in dents and scratches. _Déjà vu!_ He was so busy with getting out, that he did not notice me. _I guess that it is my job now, since Lord Megatron is a Sparkling, to put Starscream back in his place. Besides, the wound is still leaking Energon and it hurts pretty badly, now that I think about it._

I looked down at me. I have received some dents and scratches too. I made my decision in an instant and started running towards him. His optics widened as he saw me and he tried to escape by transforming again, but I grabbed his stabilizer and tossed him across the deck. My shoulder ached badly, but right now, I did not care. _I will not show weakness in front of anyone. Especially not Starscream!_

I slowly made my way over to him. It seems that too was in pain as, for he made no attempt to flee this time. As I reached him, he crawled away on his aft. Or at least he tried, because behind him was a closed door that would not open, I made sure of that.

“Soundwave, you are not mad, are you?” He looked at my wounded shoulder, “I mean, everybody argues sometimes, right? Ah…. You will not hurt me, will you?”

Only now I noticed he was holding his middle section. I could see Energon leaking from under his fingers and it was flowing more rapid than it was the case with me.

“Sound… Soundwave?” his voice trembled and was only a whisper. _A real pity that he cannot see my face under the visor, or he would have seen a rather nasty grin._

 **“Oh, does it hurt?”** I threw his own words back at him.

“Wha..”

 **“Good!”** His optics widened even more as he recognized that those were his words.

**“~I will not tolerate disobedience! … You will pay for this!”**

“This was just a joke! I just made fun. You understand me Soundwave, don't you?” he said it that rushed; I almost could not understand him.

 **“~You will pay for this!”** I repeated to emphasise my point and to make it even worse for Starscream.  _Now, it is MY turn!_

I lifted him up with my tentacles, so that he was now on eye level with me. His feet dangled in the air and his hand, that did not cover his wound, clutched my tentacle. His red optics were wise and I could see fear in their depth.

“Soundwave, please! I… I…" he tried again.

 **“You...?”** I challenged him.

“I apologize! ...I yield! You win!” I slightly tilted my head, pretending to think about his words. He didn't need to know that it was just for show. 

 **“Too late!”** It was quite enjoyable to see the hope in his eyes vanish after I had uttered those two words. It was even more satisfying when Starscream began to struggle in earnest against my grip, but to no avail.

Eventually I raised my hands and started punishing him. As the Intelligent Officer I knew almost everything of everybody. Lord Megatron ordered me once to learn the weak spot of all members. In a case of treason we would be able to defeat the traitor faster and way more efficient. Or with other words I knew were Starscream’s weak spots were and where he is very sensitive and there landed my punches. I also made sure the wound in his middle section would not remain the only one and that they would not vanish that fast. The sound of his screams was music to my audio receptors and I was remembered at my time as a gladiator in the pits of Kaon.

_T_ _he screams of the losers were the highlight in every fight. Most of the time the gladiator killed his enemy, sometimes he let the crowd decide and rarely the opponent was allowed to live. I once battled against Megatronus, alias Lord Megatron, and I was certain that my screams would be heard in the arena, but I was wrong. He spared me, despite the crowds wishes, and_ _I became his most loyal follower. As a reminder, I swore to myself I would never use my voice again! But still, it made me pleasure to hear all the screams of my dying enemies._

_So I asked myself, shall I just kill Starscream? Shall I terminate him once and for all? After all he would deserve this, but what would Lord Megatron do? He would certainly spare his life! Shall I do the same?_

I was torn from my thoughts as I heard the door beside us open, apparently someone had overwritten my command. I highly suspected Shockwave or Knockout, the latter had learned a few thing from the older bot with only one optic. In the end, the opening door revealed Knockout, together with little Sparkling Megatron. My decision was made then and there.

 _I cannot kill Starscream. At least not in front of a Sparkling, especially if Lord Megatron is the said Sparkling._ I let Starscream drop to the floor, where he curled up to a whimpering ball, instinctively protecting his most vulnerable parts.

“Mommy,” Megatron exclaimed happily as he started to struggle in Knockout's arms.

“No!” The Sparkling stopped struggling for a moment and stared up at Knockout. “Not Mommy, it's Daddy.”

 _I_ _cannot detect mockery in his voice… is he serious? Well, at least it did not sound quite so... female._

“Daddy?”

“That is right, little one! Soundwave is your Daddy!” The Sparkling once again turned to me and opened his arms, clearly expecting me to pick him up.

“Daddy!” he demanded. I sighed mentally and took him from Knockout. Carefully positioning him on my uninjured arm. He instantly snuggled in my chest and this time I did not mind. I was more or less getting used to it. That and I wouldn't show any sign of discomfort in front of another not.

“It seems you made yourself quite clear.” I looked to Knockout. “I am impressed, but I always knew there was more in you, than you show… But could you be a little more careful the next time? I have to fix him after all!” he motioned to the now unconscious Starscream.

He sighed as he bent down and picked Starscream up, careful of his 'precious' paint job. “You should follow. You do not look pretty either, you know.” He went to the still open doors and motioned for me to follow. Together we went to the Medbay.


	5. Bath time

As we arrived at the Medbay, Starscream was laid down onto one of the berths and was stabilised.  Knockout told me to sit down till he returns with his equipment. He came back and was now working on my frame. The complete repairing took 90 earth minutes and during the whole process I held the Sparkling to my chest. After about 25 minutes he was fallen asleep in my arms. He looked pretty cute. Till he started drowling on me that is. I sighed mentally.

_Hopefully he will stop drowling or I have to take an Energon bath again_! I looked down at myself. _I should take a bath anyway. Great... bath time with a Sparkling... This will be fun, especially the cleaning after...!_

After Knockout had finished he said: "Shockwave wanted to see you! He was not very pleased as I told him he had to wait till I finished the repairing on you. Luckily the doctor decides and is in this case higher ranked!"

I nodded and stood up carefully so I would not wake up the still sleeping Sparkling.

 

I headed straight to Shockwave's laboratory and was greeted by an annoyed looking Shockwave.

"There you are. It is about time!" His optics landed on the Sparkling, "it is only logical that he is tired. Sparklings need a lot of sleep! Well, I told you he should sleep with you, didn't I?" I nodded.

"Good. I let bring the Sparkling's bed to your room and after that I will make sure you have everything you need to take care of Lord Megatron. By the way... do you even know how to take care of a Sparkling?" I nodded again.

 _During work I searched a little in the data banks and thankfully found everything I needed to know_.

"Alright! You should go now, somebots need peace to work. You should know!" With this I turned around and went to my room.

 

As we arrived the Sparkling was awake again and was curiously looking all over the place. My eyes landed on the little bed, positioned at the foot of my berth. _Shockwave has done very well!_  I placed the Sparkling in his bed and went to the bathroom, which is directly linked to my chambers. A privilege of being one of Megatron's most loyal officers. I let Laserbeak keep an eye on the Sparkling, besides she does not like water. I prepared everything for the bath and went back to get the Sparkling.

 

I sat down first and put the Sparkling slowly into the water on my lap. As soon as he touched the water my little Lord started giggling. Very much and very loud.

_And again it prooved to be a great idea to take the soundproof chambers. Megatrons chamber is soundproof as well. Good for me, because his sneering is unbearable. Especially if his berthroom is right next to mine. He choosed this plays so he can be near me. When we are together he is almost pretty near at my side. A habit he picked up after we became allies back at Cybertron. I guess he feels safer around me... that would explain his attitude as a Sparkling…_

I was torn from my train of thoughts as some Energon hit my visor. I looked irritated to the Sparkling, of course he was not able to see my irritated optics. I still had the visor on my face.

_Nobody has ever seen me without my visor and it shall stay this way!_

The Sparkling hit the Energon surface with his little servos and it spilled everwhere. He stopped his activity and looked at me with his big blue optics. Funny how not only the size but his optic colour has changed! I slightly tilted my head. A little smile appeared on his face and he started wiggling out of my lap. I let go of him and he positioned himself on the other side of the tube. He turned around and faced me again.

_What is he doing?_

I got my answer as he hit the surface again so that I was hit by the Energon again. I wiped the Energon away and looked in pleading bright blue optics.

 _I knew it. This would become a big mess!_ I sighed mentally but made up my mind. The bathroom was ruined anyway so I split him back and the 'fight' began.

The bath war lasted an hour till I stepped in. I suddenly grabbed the Sparkling, who squealed in return. I washed the now pouting Sparkling and then me.

As we were finished I carried him to his little berth and sat him down. _Shall_ _I clean up the bath?_ I suddenly felt very tired. _Tomorrow it is then..._ and with this I laid into my own berth, listening to the steady breathing of the already recharging Sparkling. I just laid there for a few minutes, listening to the silence and the peace till I finally fell into recharge myself.


	6. Sing me a lullaby

I woke up abruptly. My processor told me, that I was only fallen asleep an hour ago. _What happened?_ Still groggy from just awaking, I sat up. I could here an annoying sound but didn't know where it came from. _By the deepest pits of Kaon, what is this noise? It sounds like... crying?!?!_

I was fully awake now. I stood up from my berth and went directly to Megatron's berth. The Sparkling was crying and moving in his berth. I picked him up, but he would not stop crying. _I hate to admit it, but I am a little overwhelmed by this situation. What do I have to do now? Is he hungry?_ I put him back into his berth and warmed up, as fast as I could, a bottle with Energon. Again I picked him up and tried to feed him with no success! He struggled in my arms and I almost dropped him. The bottle landed on the floor and the Energon spilled all over the floor.

_Great, just great!_ I started to rock him gentle, but without success. _What shall I do? Shall I play him a lullaby?_ I sighed mentally. _I am not a radio... whatever... I should stop complaining. I could give him to Starscream, but... . No! No, definitely not! Am I crazy? Is my processor defect?_ I shook my head. _Now is not the time to think about that. I should take care of the Sparkling._ So I started to search the world wide web for a lullaby.

Finally I found something. I still rocked the Sparkling and started the music.

 

**Come little children,**

**I'll take thee away,**

**Into a land of enchantment.**

**Come little children,**

**The time's come to play,**

**Here in my garden of shadows.**

 

_The text is not that good, when I think about it. It is time to sleep, not to play! And why would somebody take his Sparkling to a garden of shadows? Wouldn't they be afraid...? I guess I will never fully understand the humans!_

 

**Follow sweet children,**

**I'll show thee the way,**

**Through all the pain and the sorrow.**

**Weep not poor children,**

**For life is this way,**

**Murdering beauty and passion.**

 

_Wait... first the singer wants to help the Sparklings and now she is telling them that life is this way? What is that for a logic?_ I looked down at my Sparkling. _Wait, what?? MY Sparkling? He is not my Sparkling he is my lord. Even if he is so vulnerable and sweet..._

 

**Hush now, dear children,**

**It must be this way,**

**To wary of life and deception.**

**Rest now my children,**

**For soon we'll away,**

**Into the calm and the quiet.**

 

_Deception, hm? Is Lord Megatron wary of deception too? He acts differently since Optimus Prime lost his memories and was once again Orion Pax. Does he miss the old times back on Cybertron? Do I miss the time back on Cybertron? Yes! And no! I am wary of the war. Of all the destruction and pain. That is one of the reasons why I am never on the field. I cannot take the destruction, murdering and pain, I am not Starscream after all._

Deep in thoughts I did not notice that the Sparkling drifted away. I was still rocking him and did not dare to turn of the music. I feared he would wake up again. So I let the song play on.

 

**Come little children,**

**I'll show thee the way,**

**Into a land of enchantment.**

**Come little children,**

**The time's come to play,**

**Here in my garden of shadows.**

 

With that the song ended, but I did not stop rocking him gentle! Instead of laying him back down into his own berth I let him sleep in my arms. I slowly sat down onto my berth and sat upright with my back leaning against the wall. He slightly turned in my arms and laid his head on my chest while his little servos grabbed at my chest plates.

 

_I always thought that he was one of my few friends; actually he is part of my family. When I think about it, Megatron and Laserbeak are my only family... but this is hilarious.  From what you see, he could be my older brother, but I have to play his father now. Hopefully Lord Megatron will take all this well, if he ever becomes his old self that is...._

_S_ _top it! Stop thinking that Soundwave, of course he will! Shockwave can do it. But... would it really bother me to take care of him? I mean except the trouble a Sparkling could cause..... It wouldn't be that bad actually and isn't this what I always promised him? I always told him, I would protect him and be there for him. Even if it doesn't look like it now, back on Cybertron, at the beginning of the war, he was quite shy, nervous and sometimes he even was unsure and scared. And me, as the older one, had the job to protect and comfort him. Yes, I am the older one, but only a few eons. They doesn't really matter, but for him they did._

 

I was brought back from my thoughts as I felt something wet on my finger. I looked down and I had to smile a little. The Sparkling was sucking on my finger.

_Memo: Ask Shockwave for a teat! Oh Alpha Trion, you can't be serious!_ I sighed mentally. _We can be happy, that you landed on the Nemesis little one! ... wait... am I talking to the Sparkling, in my head?! All right, now it is officially. The Decepticons made me become crazy. I knew it! I always knew it!_

I sighed again.

_But thankfully Lord Megatron, or better Sparkling Megatron, wasn't brought to our enemies on the field. When I think about it, I guess we should try to make a truce. That would at least solve some of my problems... Yes! That's what we do! Tomorrow in the morning I will contact the Autobot base!_

 

With that I just watched the Sparkling for a while and fell back into recharge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song I used in this chapter is called "Come little children" and does not belong to me.
> 
> If you want to hear the song, you can do it here:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t8-_pI1-9Q


	7. Contacting the enemy

The next earth day I was woken by the Sparkling again. This time it wasn't exactly crying, it was more like calling for attention. I stood up and rocked him gentle, but he would not stop. _Deja vu! Guess he is hungry now_! So I made him a bottle Energon and feeded him while I cleaned my room. _Pretty useful these tentacles_. After he had finished (and spilled one quarter of the Energon on me) we walked to the Control Bridge. I still had to call the Autobots after all.

 

After sending a message I wanted to go back to work, but Sparkling Megatron called for attention once again. _He may have the body and mind like a Sparkling, but he is still the same ... especially if he is bored, than he can be a real pain in the exhaust, to put it mildly. Thankfully he can control himself most of the time. As an adult that is. But not as a Sparkling!_ I sent Laserbeak to Shockwave. _Hopefully he has something for the Sparkling to play!_ And after a few minutes she really came back with a little ball in her tentacles. I gave it to the Sparkling and let Laserbeak play with him. Stupid idea! Megatron alone was very noisy but in combination with my pet and friend.... way too loud for my processor.

 

After, what seemed to me like an eternity but really were one or two hours, the Autobot base contacted me back:

"Autobot Outpost Omega One to Deception warship Nemesis.  We received your messages and accept your invitation. But only under one condition, we will decide were we met!"

 _I can live with that_! I wrote back that 'we' agreed and after a few seconds I got the coordinates. Just as I wanted to open the ground bridge, the door to the Control Bridge opened and Starscream stepped in. Still pretty scratched but repaired. I automatically stepped between Sparkling and Decepticon. _Call it motherly -  I mean fatherly instincts._

 

"And what do you think you are doing? Contacting the Autobots while our dear leader is that helpless?  Ts ts ts! Becoming a traitor, aren't you?"

**“Mind your own business! Actions ~ in Decepticons ~ interests! Kind of ~ meeting!”**

"Is that right? Well then, what are you waiting for? Open the ground bridge and let's destroy the Autobots once and for all. That's the least we can do to protect our leader!"

**”Negative. Make an arrangement!”**

"An arrangement? What kind of arrangement?"

**“Truce!”**

"Say that again. I could swear I heard 'truce'!"

**“Positive!”**

"Ahahaha. Good one Soundwave! I didn't know you are a comedian! A truce with the Autobots!! Haha!"

 _Is he that stupid or is he just pretending to be...? Or I may have damaged his processor pretty badly!_ I turned away from the still laughing Starscream and reached down to pick up the Sparkling!

"Where are you going?"

“ **Autobots ~ meeting ~ for an arrangement!”** His laugher stopped abruptly. 

"Have I damaged you processor? You can't possible think of a truce with our arch enemy?! And you can't possible think of taking Lord Megatron with you!"

He just stared at me while I turned around once again opened a ground bridge, stepped through with the Sparkling and closed it behind me before Starscream could follow. Carefully I have deleted the messages and coordinates so nobody could possible follow.

 

We landed in a kind of forest.  We would have to walk a few metres deeper into said forest. I stopped halfway. _Am I really doing the right thing here? It would solve problems, but should the Autobots really see Megatron in this state? Clearly not... at least not right now!_ So I decided to hand over the Sparkling to Laserbeak, who was flying right next to me the whole time. The Sparkling now sat on Laserbeak's back who hold him in place with his tentacles. I gave him the commend to stand back and watch the sparkling till I return or give any other comment. With that Laserbeak flew a few stunts with the Sparkling still on his back, who now started to giggle loudly. _At least he is busy and won't cry!_

 

So I made my way through the trees and plants alone, watching out for possible danger and for the Autobots, who were surely waiting for me. _Actually they aren't waiting for me. I guess they are expecting Lord Megatron and maybe Starscream, but not the Decepticon TIC.... Well, they are meeting Lord Megatron, sort of. But only if they want to see him or want to know the reason for the truc… especially because we, the Decepticons, ignored the last attempt of the Autobots to make peace. I guess this is the reason they accepted the invitation... they are curious! Well, there we are..._   Finally I reached the place of destination and really, there were waiting Optimus Prime and his soldiers. _Here we go ... for the Decepticons, but more important, for Lord Megatron!_ ...

 

 

Starscream's POV:

 

_Who does he think he is? Just turns around on me and ignores me!_

I was walking up and down in my chamber and made my thoughts room.

_This plan from Megatron’s dog destroys everything. I should show him where his place is, namely under me... but this didn't work the last time I tried... and I can't afford to embarrass me once again. I have to think of something else... but what? Embarrassing Soundwave is impossible. This Con makes no mistake and seems not to feel anything. At least he doesn't show it, especially when he has his mask on. Actually I am not even sure if he has a real face.... but that's not the point! The point is I have to get rid of Lord Megatron and if I want to do this I have to get rid of Soundwave as well! But I can't do it alone... I need the help of a intelligent and deceptive Bot, just like me... and I have already somebody in my mind...!_


	8. Shock and embarrassment

Soundwave's POV:

 

As soon as I reached them, the Autobots turned around and aimed at me. As far as I could say Bumblebee, the scout; Bulkhead, the wrecker and Arcee the soldier were with Optimus Prime. Their medic, Ratchet; Wheeljack and Smokescreen were missing. I forced myself to calm down and stand still while I looked into Prime's face. Or better his optics, because the rest was hidden behind his battle mask.

 

"Soundwave?", asked the perplexed Autobot femme.

I nodded.

 ** _“You sent us this message?”_** _,_ asked or better beeped the yellow-black Scout.

I nodded again.

"Where is Megatron? If this really is the purpose of the Decepticons, he should be here as well, shouldn't he?"

"Arcee is right, Soundwave! Where is Megatron or is this just one of you traps?"

This time I shook my head.  **“~No trap... complicated!”**

They exchanged glares and finally let their weapons down. The Prime made a few steps toward me.

"Then you should start to explain and don't forget to include the reason for your sudden change in mind!"

 **“Reason and... Megatron's missing…same!”** Prime looked at his comrades but I couldn't see his gaze.

"So Megatron has disappeared?! Great! What are we waiting for? Let us attack the Decepticons and end this war!"

"Bulk is right! And we should start with Soundwave than they are completely helpless!", shouted the blue femme as she reacted her blades and came running for me. I realised to late that Laserbeak wasn't attached to my chest and I was practically without any protection of my spark chamber and I couldn't order Laserbeak to attack her and before the Prime could stop her I had her blade slice my chest.

 

 _Dammit that hurts! Scrap! Stupid Autobot! I am speaking of a truce and she is attacking me! Since when does Optimus Prime not have any control about his Autobots? Stupid femme!_ "Arcee stop it, NOW!"

"But Optimus, he wouldn't hesitate!" I could make out the femme standing above me.

"But we are no Decepticons and he came in peaceful purpose! Stand down now!"

"But...", she didn't came further, because she was interjected from a Sparkling's voice. "Daddy!!!"

"What...?" The optics of all Autobots turned around to the little creature that had caused the sound. I slightly got up, still bleeding. Laserbeak landed next to me and Megatron tippled to me. All optics were on us as I opened my arms and hold him close to my side.

Bulkhead was the first who found his voice again: "Is that... is that... Megatron?!"

I nodded and slowly stood up as the blue femme rejected her blades.

"This can't be Megatron... I mean he looks so... so innocent", said Arcee.

 

Megatron slightly moved in my arm and now looked expectantly at the femme. _I have a bad feeling about this!_ And really.  He reached out for her with his little arms and said: "Mummy!"

_By Alpha Trion. That was embarrassing! I guess at the latest now Lord Megatron will kill me! ... but the look on Arcee's  faceplate was priceless. Fortunately I had myself under control or I would have start laughing!_

 

In the contrast to me the other Autobots, except Prime, started to laugh pretty hard and loud. While Arcee's optics went wide and she stood there frozen! Actually the Prime smirked too and tried his best to remain serious.

 

 ** _“Well, I think we now know why the Decepticons want a truce!”_** , managed Bumblebee to choke out between laughers. The others nodded in agreement, only Arcee looked as if she wants to kill the next Bot who says anything to her. I carefully stepped back a few steps... the wound was still hurting, especially because Laserbeak reconnected himself again.

 

The Prime cleared his throat and there was silence at once.

"However, in consideration of this... incident", he looked at me and the Sparkling who snuggled up to my chest; "we have to think things through! But, how long do you think it will hold?"

**“As long as ... I am ... ~in charge!”**

The Prime nodded his understand and the wrecker said: "Wait... you in charge? What about Starscream?"

 

 _Great Soundwave, just great! Since eons you weren't on the field or in any diplomatic talk and when you go to one... everything goes completely wrong! So... what now? The truth?_ I looked down at the Sparkling, who was looking at me expectantly. His optics showed something I haven't seen before. Determination and... trust?! At this moment, I knew my answer! I would do anything to protect him. And if this information is really necessary then they shall know!

 

**“Starscream... unworthy fool! Makes everything... ~worse!”**

I looked back to the Autobots and looked right into shocked and sceptical faces. _Yes, that's it! I hate Starscream! Now it is out! Happy?_

"Wow! That's hard. I mean, when even Soundwave says this... just... wow!", said Bulkhead while the others and even Ratchet, who surely listened to the whole conversation, told their agreement.

 

_By the Allspark! What a mess! There was a reason why I became the THIRD in Command and not the Second! I don't want to lead an army and I don't want to be a leader! Dear Alpha Trion, what have I done that you do this to me?_

 

"Nonetheless, we will think about it and tell you our decision! Ratchet we need a bridge!" A bridge opened behind them.

"Autobots...",

"Optimus, wait! Arcee forgot to say goodbye to 'her' little Sparkling!"

"BULKHEAD!"

With that the two Bots ran through the bridge, a laughing Bumblebee close behind them and finally Optimus Prime.

 

I just shook my head and opened a ground bridge to my room. I would fix and clean my wound myself. I used to do it in my time as gladiator. With that I turned around and walked right back on board of the Nemesis!

 

 

Starscream's POV:

 

I made my way through the corridors of the Nemesis.  The chance to be unseen, because Soundwave isn't there, has to be taken. I reached a chamber in the deeper levels of the Nemesis. I knocked at the door and from the inside came:

"Come in!"

_Hopefully I won't regret this decision._

With that I entered the chamber...


	9. Cabal

Starscream's POV:

 

I slowly stepped into the dim room. I couldn't see anybody so I stepped in further. Suddenly something rather big landed right behind me and I swung around. Before me stood... “Airachnid!”

“Starscream, what can I do for you?”

“Ehm... Why do you think I have something for you to do?”

“Let me think,” she scrawled around me, “Soundwave isn't on board, he destroyed not only your body, your honour as well and Lord Megatron is a Sparkling... why do I think you need my help? Well, maybe because you want to be the leader of the Decepticons and Megatron, as well as Soundwave, is in your way. So, tell me, what can I do for you?”

“You seem to know pretty well what I want!”

“You learn a lot of things when you are on your own!” She stopped in front of me.

“I guess you want to get rid of Megatron?”

“Indeed!” I smirked. “But in order to do that, we first have to get rid of Soundwave!”

“Not compulsory!”

“What do you have in mind, Airachnid?”

Now it was her part to smirk. “You see, poor Soundwave has pretty much to do; controlling the Nemesis, the data and the order. That alone is a lot of work, but Soundwave is Third in Command beside that and now he even has to take care of a Sparkling...”

“And now, that he defeated me, he has to take care of the troops and the leadership as well! But I don't understand what you're at!”

“Think Starscream!” Once again she scrawled around me, but stopped behind me. “Soundwave may be something like a super Decepticon, who knows a lot and does a lot. But even somebot like Soundwave has his limit...!”

“You mean we should make him... breakdown?”

She laid her arms on my shoulder and her head on her arms. “Exactly. Once Soundwave had a breakdown, he is a case for the Medbay or with other words, terminate him would be an act of mercy! Then nothing is in our way anymore and we can destroy Megatron once and for all!” She almost slumped forward as I turned around to face her.

“You know Airachnid, I like your way of thinking!” We smirked. “But how do you want to achieve this? I mean Soundwave is everything except stupid! He also arranged a meeting with the Autobots in order to make a truce.”

“Mmh... in this case it's going to be harder. If we want to achieve something, we have to make sure that he has as much to do as possible!”

“Do you want to sabotage their arrangement?”

“No, it's already too late for this, but we could sabotage something else!”

“Like the Nemesis or our Energon store?”

I could see a creepy glowing in her optics. “For example! So, what do you say?”

 

 _Honestly, I think she is crazy! Maybe she was too long alone in the universe. Not enough Energon for our processor if you ask me! And actually I don't want to rule WITH her, but what else shall I do? Of course there is always the option to kill her after we terminated Megatron AND Soundwave! Yes, that's what I am going to do_.

 

“I say it is a good plan, but don't you think we could use even more help?”

“And who would help us?” I smirked. “How about your little pets, the Insecticons, as well as my trustful followers Steve and Knockout?”

“So be it, but for now keep silent and pretend nothing has happened. I will tell you when I formed a plan.”

“And till than, I make sure Knockout and Steve shut their mouth!”

She nodded and I took it as a sign to leave, but instead of going right back to my personal chambers I went to search Knockout in order to tell him about our plan...


	10. Watch your back....

Starscream's POV:

 

I was right. Steve as well as Knockout were in, but we were almost caught by Shockwave, Soundwave's brother.

_Actually I don't know if they are brothers... actually I don't know anything about Soundwave and his past. I once looked into our recordings, but I couldn't find the tiniest bit. Almost as if Soundwave never existed. But he did, he was gladiator. I know that from Megatron. They met in the area, but why Megatron didn't kill Soundwave, I don't know!_

_Wait, what was the topic again? ... ah, yes, Shockwave._

_That Soundwave and Shockwave are brothers is a rumour. They are called Wave-brothers. As already mentioned, I don't know if they are! Megatron neither. But it is obvious that they like or in Soundwave's case, accept each other._

_However I am pretty sure Shockwave wouldn't have stayed calm... he is a potential threat that should be terminated. I will talk to Airachnid about it. Nonetheless, we had pretty much luck. We just have to think of a way to get rid of Shockwave, without Soundwave getting suspicious. Than we have to get rid of Soundwave and finally, the way is free for us to kill Megatron!_

_The victory will be mine! Me, the true leader of the Decepticons!_

 

 

Airachnid's POV:

 

_Starscream this fool. He almost got caught! Sadly it would be very suspicious when the SIC dies tragically... Besides, he could be useful._

_However, soon phase one of our plan will start. The troops will have some tragic accidents and the Energon stock will shrink. No Energon means no energy and no energy means no flying Nemesis. We would be defenceless, especially to these human creatures. Oh, and not to mention the Decepticons who would die because of lack of Energon._

_Of course Soundwave could not let this happen. He would have to lay hand on himself._

_However I am looking forward to phase two! Rampaging Insecticons, who destroy the ship. Maybe even with a little help of Scraplets. Soundwave could be damaged than as well... but from where shall we get Scraplets? Something Steve and Knockout could take care of!_

_Soon the Decepticons will be lead by their rightful leader, me Airachnid!_

 

 

Soundwaves POV:

 

_After this more or less well preceded trial, we went back on board the Nemesis. I had work to attend to after all. Back on board everything was normal. Not that I expected something else, but with Decepticons like Starscream, Knockout or Airachnid, you can never be sure. I quickly took care of my wound and then headed to the control bridge. The control bridge was empty, thankfully. No Decepticon who would go on my processor._

I let Laserbeak get some Energon for Megatron and, after I fed him, let him once again play with Laserbeak. I connected myself with the control panel and tried to work, but soon after I started, I felt something odd, leaning against my leg. As I looked down, I saw Megatron cuddling to my leg and resting his head to my foot.

_Seems that somebot is pretty sleepy…_

I looked up from the Sparkling, back to the monitors and once again to the little Sparkling. I sighed mentally, as I reconnected from the panel I picked up the Sparkling. Laserbeak retracted back to me and with the Sparkling close to my Spark, I exited the room. Decided to call it a day, I made my way to my chambers, but not without curious glances following me…


	11. Phase 1

Airachnid’s POV:

 

_My three comrades did well. They have placed the bombs in the Energon storage. Luckily the walls of the storage are thick and very strong; otherwise the whole ship would explode, because of the released energy._

_Hopefully the repairing of the storage and the restoring of the Energon, will keep Soundwave busy enough to find these Scraplets we detected at the North Pole a while ago… However, where is Starscream? He has the remote control for activating the bombs…_

Starscream’s POV:

 

I checked the bombs one last time and made my way to Airachnid. I have already sent Knockout and Steve to a ‘scouting’ mission. _Scouting…pah! Collecting would be the right term. Collecting all those hideous Scraplets… I just hope this whole expense is worth it! …_

Finally, I stood before Airachnid’s chamber and I knocked. She let me in and then, there we stood.

“Well Starscream, what are you waiting for? Let phase one begin!” And with that, I pushed the button on the remote control…

 

 

Soundwaves’s POV:

 

I was woken by the sound of an explosion and the shaking of the ship. I almost jumped out of berth, but at the last second I realized, that the Sparkling slept half on my chest and half on my lap. I stood up very carefully and laid the Sparkling in his own berth and silently made my way out of my chamber. Just in case I let Laserbeak back, to watch over Megatron.

As soon as I was on the corridor I hacked into the ship tin order to find the source of the distraction. Only to find that the Energon storage has blown up completely, but thankfully beside that, the ship was fully functional. _Besides the forming processor ache, can it get any worse? And how could something like this happen? Have I missed something on the daily check, yesterday?_ Ignoring the processor ache and the questions, I finally made my way to the Energon storage. _Or at least, where it should be…._

On the way to the storage a few Decepticons approached me. They were all pretty upset and they shouted all at once.

“Commander! The Energon storage is blown up!”

“Commander, come fast!”

“The Energon!! Everything has blown up!”

“Commander, what are we going to do now?”

 **“Silence!”** I used Megatrons voice to shut them up and really, they became silent at once.

 

I continued my way as Starscream and Airachnid came around the next corner and almost stumbled into me.

“Watch were you are going, Soundwave!”, Airachnid said. I did not respond.

Starscream asked: “I guess you already know what happened?”

I nodded.

“Luckily, the walls were strong enough, so the ship were not further damaged! If you wonder what caused this explosion, we found out, that one of the machines was defect and exploded and with it, all the Energon we had!”

 

_An error in one of the machines? How is this possible? I had them checked yesterday, when I returned from the meeting with the Autobots! Have I simply overseen something?_

As if he could read my mind Starscream added: “But do not blame yourself, even you cannot find every problem! You are just a Cybertronian after all!”

_You would know..._

 “Well, if you will excuse Airachnid and me, we have to make sure, that the restoring goes without any further trouble.” With that, they turned around and just walked away.

 

 

_Great, just great! It seems as if I haven’t enough problems already! No! Now I have to deal with finding Energon and that fast, or the Nemesis will fall on the ground and the troops will sooner or later fall into stasis, because of lack of fuel… Primus, Unicron, Alpha Trion or whoever does not like me anymore… what have I done? ...alright Soundwave, get a hold of yourself! You will not let down Lord Megatron! Let me think, what do I have to do…_

_First, send out drones to collect Energon;_

_Second, keep an optic, or better two optics, on Starscream and Airachnid, so they will not kill each other;_

_Third, supervise the reparations;_

_Fourth, wait for a respond from the Autobots and if needed, prepare for an attack;_

_Fifth, control the whole ship once more for any errors;_

_And finally sixth, take care of Lord Megatron and maybe ask Shockwave about progress…_

_It promises to be a long day… well than, enough time wasted, I better get to work._

I was about to go to the control room, so I could order the troops to collect Energon, as Laserbeak called and urged for me to come back to my chambers (and the Sparkling) at once…


	12. From smoke to smother

Soundwaves POV:

 

While I made my way through the corridors, I presumed the worst scenarios, with Megatron in danger, hurt or maybe even… offline… _I_

_should stop thinking that! There is no evidence for any of it! Maybe the Sparkling is just hungry or Laserbeak is molested by him or he broke accidently something in my chamber. No need to think of the worst possibilities, surely it will be just a little incident, nothing more… right? And why does it bother me that much? Of course, he is my lord and leader, but I feel like there is something else… something I cannot identify clearly… I guess, I have to think about that later, because now, I have to see what caused all the excitement (from me…)_

I almost rushed into my chamber, as soon as I heard the crying of a Sparkling. To my relief, the Sparkling was not in any danger, nor was he hurt in any way. He was simply crying and poor Laserbeak had no idea what to do. Over our bond, she told me, that she tried to feed him, to tell him a story and so on, but with no success. The Sparkling just kept on crying and Energon tears ran down his face. I stepped further into the room and the little Sparkling looked up at me with big optics and tear stained cheek plates. He reached out for me with his little arms and I had to admit, this looked kind of cute. I bend down slowly and picked him up. Rocking him gently in my arms and pressing him to my chest.

Eventually he came down und stooped crying, but the whole time he looked up to me. I lifted him onto my right arm and with my left servo I whipped away the Energon tear stains. He reached out and grabbed my finger with his tiny servos.

_For a Sparkling, he has a lot of strength in his servos…_

He nuzzled his face to my chest plates and did not let go of my fingers. I just stood there for a while, looking down at the little Sparkling and stroking his face with one of my free fingers.

Suddenly my communicator gave a beep and I opened the line.

“Soundwave, where by the Allspark are you? You wanted to take care of the Energon restoring, did you not? Or have you forgotten?”, Starscream raged. “However, just get here, now!”

With that he just closed the line. _Have I mentioned that I do not like Starscream?_

I sighed mentally and once again looked down at the Sparkling, who, to my surprise, looked back at me. Still holding my finger, he had a questioning look upon his face. It seems I have stopped stroking him, while Starscream was talking.

I was about to put him back on the ground as Laserbeak protested. “

You do not want to leave him here with me again, do you?”, she asked over the bond. As I made no measures to pick him up again, she went on: “You were the reason he was crying! When he woke up and did not see you, he started crying, and I bet, he will start again if you leave him here!”

 _Great, what else?_ Laserbeak reconnected with my chest and I picked Megatron up once again. _I just hope that Shockwave will find the cure soon!_

 

The Decepticons in the control room gave me an odd look, as I walked in with Megatron sitting on my shoulder. But I just ignored them and went to my work place, where I connected my tentacles to the ship. The first thing I did, was checking the schedules of all Decepticons and after that I decided who would work when in the Energon mines. I repeated the whole procedure a few times for the following earth days. In between, the Sparkling has laid his head on mine and was fast asleep. As long as he did not start drooling it was fine by me, even with the odd look of the other Decepticons. I just ignored them. I did not care for their opinion at all. In the moment, I just cared for our Energon supply and for the wellbeing of Lord Megatron.

At this moment a message came in. It was from the Autobots and it said, that the Autobots agreed to the truce. _At least something that doe not go wrong…_ Just on cue, scared screams could be heard from the outside. Everybot in the room turned their attention to the door, even the Sparkling woke up and looked with sleepy optics at the door. I checked the cameras and could make out screaming, running and shooting Decepticons. _It almost looks like an attack, but the Autobots just agreed to the truce… who would attack us and who is able to make his way in here, without me noticing it? …_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update!  
> Real life and school got me...  
> Hope you liked the chapter anyway!^^


	13. Corruption

Starscreams POV:

 

“Well, if you will excuse Airachnid and me, we have to make sure, that the restoring goes without any further trouble. Oh, and before I forget, I have sent out Knockout with one of the drones to search for other big Energon sources.” With that we turned around and made our way to the reparations. _Searching for Energon sources, hah, if Soundwave would know that they are searching for these hideous Scraplets…_

My thoughts were interrupted by Airachnid: “We have to make sure, that Soundwave will not notice what Knockout and Steve bring onboard. We have to make sure, that one of us, bridge them back onboard the Nemesis, into my chambers. There we should have enough place for them…”

“And with ‘one of us’ you mean…”

“You!”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” She grinned wickedly.

“Think of something. You have some time, before the call back!”

“And what will you do, while I have to bridge them back without Soundwave noticing?” “Well, I will observe the repairing of course; maybe I will sabotage them…” _Of course, I have to do the work… Stupid spider! But soon, I will get rid of her…_

“When did you intend to start phase two?” She thought a moment before answering.

“As soon as possible… as soon as they return!” I grinned.

“I see. We have the surprising effect on our side than and the repairing will be sabotaged and stopped and the drones will not be able to collect Energon from the mines. And on top of it all, Soundwave has to find a way to get rid of them! Brilliant!”

”Of course it is brilliant! The plan is from me after all!”, she said arrogantly. _Your arrogance will be your doom! I can promise you!_

Without anything else to say I turned into the next corridor, while Airachnid walked straight ahead. I was still trying to figure a way out to distract Soundwave as I reached the control room. Deciding that I would just act spontaneously I entered the control room.

I was pretty surprised, that I Soundwave was not here. _Well, this certainly makes things easier!_ I thought and went right to the control panel. The working Decepticons were ignoring me. _Good for them._ I tipped into the panel and made contact to Knockout.

“Knockout, report!”

“Knockout here. You know Starscream, for once you could just say ‘please’!”

“Stop it and tell me how you are doing!”

“Alright, no need to shout! Geez, there a no civilized Decepticons anymore…”, He murmured. “We have found the Scraplets and picked them up, but they are completely frozen. We need a bridge to bring them back and unfreeze them.”

“Got it. I will bridge you right back into Airachnid’s chamber.”

“Wait a moment. What about Soundwave?”

“Soundwave is not here.” I activated the ground bridge. “Hurry, before he returns!”

 

After they were back on board I closed the ground bridge and contacted Soundwave:

“Soundwave, where by the Allspark are you? You wanted to take care of the Energon restoring, did you not? Or have you forgotten? However, just get here, now!” I closed the line and left the control room. I wanted to check on the Scraplets.

 

Airachnid was already back in her chambers and inspecting the big, frozen Scraplet trap.

“Guess we have to wait now!” Knockout said.

“Eh, excuse me, but what will we do, when they are free?”, Steve asked shyly. Airachnid turned to him and gave him a derogative look.

“I suggested that we watch out, so we will not get eaten by them! Any ideas?!” Airachnid turned her gaze to Knockout.

“Just make sure your doors are locked tight and Soundwave will not notice them before they are free!” With that Airachnid shooed us out of her room and we all went to our own chambers, while Airachnid went to the Insecticons.

 

_As long as this hideous Scraplets will not find me… I just hope this is really worth it!_


	14. The chaos erupts

Soundwave’s POV:

 

I checked all the cameras onboard, but was not able to see anything else apart the screaming, running and shooting Decepticons. _Either the attackers are invisible, what is not likely, or they are very small and through all the chaos not detectable… But what could be so small and so fearful, that everybot is going nuts? …_

Still processing about possible threats the fellow Decepticons, who were in the room, approached me. I turned around, still with the Sparkling on my shoulders.

“Eh, commander Soundwave… what is going on out there? Are we under Autobots attack?”

 **“Negative!”** A murmuring ran through the little crowd.

“Well, what is going on then?”

He just finished asking as something rather large hit the door. The attention fell from me and the expressions of the drones was full of fear.

“HELP!! Please, help!” The screams echoed through the thick door. “Scraplets!! We are attacked by Scraplets!!”

I froze and so did every other bot in the room. They exchanged gazes and started to shout and to panic as well. I on the other hand, thought about my options.

_I could go out and find Shockwave; he may have some helpful tool to get rid of them, but what about the Sparkling? I could let him stay here, but what if the Scraplets get into this room as well and they will sooner or later… I could still send Laserbeak, but she would be on their mercy as well. Tiny beings have to watch out even more. Waiting here for them to go is not an option either. They will not go till they have eaten every little piece of metal. Fleeing is neither an option. We will not abandon the ship nor will we abandon any Decepticon. I could just take Megatron with me, but that would be very dangerous as well. On the other hand, he is not safe, no matter how I decide, but if he is with me, I may be able to protect him!_

I was in the progress to abandon my work place and step outside as a terrible screech was heard from the outside. I sounded like a rampaging Insecticon…

_You have to be kidding! Not they as well… Is Airachnid not even able to control her little pests? … Well, as long as Shockwave’s pet is not going to rampage too… because than, we can abandon the ship for good!_

I made my way to the door and as I stood right in front of it, one of the Decepticons took the word again:

“Commander, you are not planning to go out THERE, are you? You do not want these thing enter this room, do you?”

I ignored him, opened the door a gape wide and slide right through it. The door closed immediately after me and I looked around. The corridor was covered with dead bodies. The Scraplets were busy eating them and I took the change to run through the corridor. Thankfully the have not recognize me, or they ignored me, whatever it was.

_I should not cheer just yet. Shockwaves lab is on the other side of the ship and it is a long way till there… even longer if you consider the Scraplets and Insecticons…_

Just on cue crossed a few Insecticons crossed my way. I was barely able to dodge them, without loosing the Sparkling, or even worse, hurting him. They snarled at me, but they did not attack me. Instead they seemed to flee before something and I did not have to guess, what this ‘something’ was. For safety’s sake I activated the Resonance Blaster, I would not go under without a fight. But I will not provoke a fight either, so I did the same as the Insecticons and started to run. As I looked back I could see a Scraplet swarm follow the Insecticons, but some of them have seen another target… me!


	15. Safe our Spark

Soundwave’s POV:

 

I slightly backed away and put down the Sparkling and aimed for them with the Resonance Blaster. Thankfully Lord Megatron entrusted it me. While the Scraplets got close, Laserbeak started to jerk and I had to release her. She flew a looping and stopped right next to me, where she hovered over the floor.

As the Scraplets finally approached us, we were able to fend them at first, but I got startled by something clasping onto my leg. I turned my attention and the weapon to my leg, but realized just in time that it was just Megatron. I turned my attention away only to see that these hideous creatures had reached us. I barely had time to shield my visor as they got to me, burying their teeth into my metal and the cable underneath. From the impact I stumbled further backward and eventually fell to the ground.

I gave Laserbeak the command to abandon me and bring the Sparkling somewhere safe. Of course she protested, but I swore I would be all right. She finally left with the Sparkling on her back.

_I should not swear thing I cannot make true…_

I tried to defend myself as best as I could, but the more I killed, the more seemed to come. Almost my whole body was covered in scratches, Scraplets or wounds and I were still crawling on the floor. Pain shot through my circuits as the reached some of my sensitive cables.

_Is this really going to be the end? After all this time as a gladiator in Kaon and after all these battles with the Autobots I am going to die because of some Scraplets? What on Cybertron have I done wrong, except letting Starscream and Airachnid alive? What will happen if I become one with the Allspark, especially with Sparkling Megatron and his treacherous commanders? I promise, if these two should hurt my lord in any way, I will come back from death and rip out their Spark with my own hands. Damn those Scraplets!_

I continued to fight for my life. There must be an end at some point! Crushing them, slicing them and shooting them I managed to get up again. The wall behind me as a support, I finally stood again. But as one Scraplet bit through my chest plates and hit on of my main circuits in the progress I sag back to my knees. Where Laserbeak normally clawed was a Scraplet sized hole from which Energon was leaking rapidly. I just managed to pull out the creature and throw it away, into the swarm of the arriving Scraplets.

Not able to move any more, paralyzed by the pain and Energon loss, I barely noticed a door sliding open at the end of the corridor, only to hear a surprised sound and the echoing loud of a running bot.

_That is right! Run you coward! It is not as if you could safe a life! …wait, you could! Mine for example! ...but what do I expect from a crew of incapable Decepticons, who always get beaten by the Autobots?_

I was so deep in my thoughts that I did not notice the big bot standing a few feet away from me, who pointed a weapon at me…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to update on daily basis from now on. At least every second day!  
> I hope you liked it so far and maybe you could leave a comment to tell me what you think! :)


	16. Savior in time of need

Shockwave’s POV:

 

I was interrupted from my thoughts and my work, as screams echoed through the hallways. I shook my head. _How Lord Megatron is able to tolerate his undisciplined scum is a riddle to me! And how Soundwave is able to work with them is even more puzzling to me!_

 

I turned back to work. I am making progress after all. I found out that this ground bridge incident has affected the Spark directly and by infecting it, the Spark shrinks back to a younger self and with it the body of the infected bot. Now that I know at least that, I should be able to find a make a cure for Lord Megatron.

_Memorise: Inform Soundwave about the progress and make sure that Starscream will never be in the reach of an opening ground bridge ever again! At best, lock this annoying and treacherous seeker away completely!_

 

I was about to get back to the formula of a possible cure as suddenly the door to my laboratory was opened and panicked soldiers entered. I turned to them.

“What are you doing in my laboratory? Have you no work to do?”

“Commander, Scraplets! They are everywhere!” One of them said, while the others cowered into a corner.

“And now you have showed them the way to my laboratory?”, I shouted.

The wincing of the soldiers was answer enough for me.

“Let us stay, please...”

“You stay exactly there! You will not move, not even a nanometre, got it? And you will be silent and not touch anything, do you understand?” They all nodded.

 

I turned my back at them. _Even if the Scraplets did not follow them, it is just a matter of time before they would come here! I have to find a way to get rid of them..._

I went into my storage. _Somewhere here it should be.... Back on Cybertron, when I was still Lord Megatron's guide, I invented a blaster that freezes these hideous creatures. I had to, because they often visited my old laboratory there. The question is, where did I put it? ...ah, there it his!_

 

With the ice cannon I made my way back into the main room. I looked at the Decepticons; they have indeed not moved an inch. I scoffed at them. _No wonder Lord Megatron was not able to beat and destroy the Autobots till now, no matter how good a leader is - and Megatron certainly is the best - if his troops a cowards and incapable of doing anything, he cannot win the war!_

 

I stepped into the corridor, my weapon ready to fire and freeze the Scraplets. I could not make out any on this level, so I made my way to the upper levels. My goal was Soundwave. _Even though he was a great gladiator and fighter back on Cybertron, not even he is able to defend himself without the right weapon. Not to mention that he has to take care of a Sparkling and Scraplets love the metal of young Sparkling._

 

The corridors were covered by dead bodies, or better, what is left of them. Pieces of metal were lying all around, not only of dead Decepticons, but of the ship as well. _Poor Soundwave. He now has to make sure that we refill our Energon storage and he has to take care of the repairing as well._

The Scraplets I found were quickly destroyed, even without the help of the drones and soldiers. I sent the still living ones into my laboratory as well. Even though I was pretty sure that I would regret that later, but at least they would not stay in the way or get damaged even more.

In the next corridor I heard the sound of fighting. _Should there still be brave soldiers around here?_ I was about to go there as it suddenly became silent, except the sound of the Scraplets. Fearing the most, I started to run toward the door.

 

As the door slid open, a surprised sound escaped me. Kneeling on the ground was Soundwave and he was gravely injured. Energon poured from several little wound, but what concerned me was the big hole in his chest. Without thinking I ran to him. He did not even seem to really notice me. I was about to shoot at the Scraplets on him, but at the last moment I noticed that I would hurt him as well…

_Damn this Scraplets… Normally it is not my way to swear, but seeing one of my best comrades - and maybe even friend – like this…_

“Soundwave, come on, I need your help with this!”

He did not react at all. Despite the risk that he will beat me to scrap metal when he is fully recovered, I lunged out and hit him at his head so that he fell sideways to the floor.

“Pull yourself together, will you? What would Lord Megatron think if he sees you like this?”

Even now he did not flinch and I feared the worst, as he suddenly started to move and as he tried to push himself up. Of course I helped. I took him by his shoulder plates and I put him in a, more or less, upright position. Luckily his frame was light enough so I could steady him with one arm, while I retracted one Scraplet by one, crushing them in the progress.

 

As the last one was destroyed I took a deep breath. Maybe Soundwave looked terrible damaged, but at least he was alive, that was all what mattered now.

“I guess Lord Megatron is safe?”

He barely nodded.

“Well then. I will bring you somewhere safe too!”

He leaned heavily on me but somehow we managed to walk back to my laboratory.

“Do you have any idea how we can get rid of this plague?”

**“Ship… cooling system…”**

“You want to activate the ships cooling system? But since you are not in the condition to do that, somebot has to run through the whole ship… Can you send Laserbeak instead?”

He slightly shook his head. Then I noticed that Laserbeak was not attached to his chest and not hovering anywhere near by.

“I cannot repair and stable you and run across the whole ship at the same time! You know that!” I sighed. “Since Laserbeak is not with you, I guess she is with Megatron?”

He nodded.

“Then give her the command to come to my laboratory immediately and bring Megatron with her. It is our only change!” … _of saving you my friend._ I added in my mind.

He nodded one last time and then we entered my laboratory, the other bots present, just gazed at us with utter surprise and amazement…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love Shockwave... XD  
> Hope you liked the chapter.  
> Every mistake is my own.


	17. Searched and Found

Soundwave's POV:

 

Shockwave dragged me all the way back to his laboratory. At least he said so. I just concentrated on my body, so I would not become unconscious. I barely noticed what he told me and it was hard to answer and even worse to send a command to Laserbeak. I think I managed though, but sure... that I was not!

 

I felt that I was laid down on something and my instincts told me to close my eyes and rest, but I knew that this would be fatal, so I used all my left strength to stay awake.

 

 

Shockwave's POV:

 

I dragged him to the other end of the room. There we were safe from curious glances. I laid him down on a operation table, so I could take care of the wounds, but as soon as he laid there, his system was about to shut down.

“Don’t you dare to die on me! You have had far worse!”

It seemed to work, because his system became more stable again and I could finally take a look at the injuries. Or better, at his fatal injury on his chest. But before I took a look, I hooked him up to some machines, which looked out to his vital states and made him stable.

_Unfortunately I had no tools to alleviate the pain… at least not here in my laboratory. They should be in the Medbay…_

_Memorise: Never borrow Knockout any tools, you will never see them again…_

 

 

Soundwave’s POV:

 

Shockwave said something to me, I could not quite understand. I focused more on staying conscious, but that did not prevent me from feeling the stabbing pain from the wound, especially because Shockwave was working on it; or rather in it…

_I swear to the Allspark, if I survive this and if I find out who is responsible for this mess, I will rip out his spark, not matter who he or she is._

 

 

Shockwave’s POV:

 

I was able to stop the bleeding and was about to close the wound as the door to the laboratory was opened from the outside. I turned around and grabbed the ice blaster, ready to shot, but I recognized Laserbeak and Sparkling Megatron just on time. She flew to us at once and lowered Megatron on the floor next to my feet. Soundwave stretched out an arm and Laserbeak lowered herself onto it. She made some static noises. I think she was talking to him, but I could not understand a word. He nodded twice before Laserbeak rose once again and made her way out of the room again.

“I presume she is going to activate the cooling system?”

He turned to look at me, at least he turn his head and visor to me, and nodded.

I was about to turn back to my task from before as something brushed against my leg. I looked down and saw the Sparkling, standing on his little feet and holding onto the edge of the table, trying to get up.

“Daddy?!”

I stared to Soundwave confused, but he had already turned his attention to the little Sparkling. He slightly pushed himself up with shaky arms and turned sideways. To stun to say or do anything I just watched. He reached out for the Sparkling and lifted him to the table. Megatron cuddled right next to Soundwaves head, who laid back down, with one hand on the back of the Sparkling.

 

 _Those two are made for each other._ I shook my head and turned back on the work at hand.

Except waiting and maybe hoping, there was nothing else for us to do…


	18. Doubts

Soundwave's POV:

The Sparkling cuddled to my head, a little distraction from the pain that ran through my body. Shockwave was still working on my wounds, but he was closing them. They stopped leaking a while ago, but there was still a hole in my frame.

I tried to make contact with Laserbeak. She did not respond at first and I feared the worst, but my fear was regardless, because soon after she replied, explaining that she had to hide and be quiet. Also she told me that she was not far away from her destination. It calmed me down, because it was very unlikely that something will go wrong now, but you never knew.

 

I turned my attention back to Shockwave's laboratory. I noticed the sleeping Sparkling who started drooling on my face plate. _Disgusting! Does the Sparkling not know how much work it is to clean my visor? Probably not! ... On the other side, I should worry more about other things._ At this moment Shockwave patted my shoulder, probably to get my attention, and hold out his hand for me. I put my left hand on the back of the Sparkling, so he would not fall and with the other I grabbed the offered hand. He pulled me up with ease, but the world was still shaking slightly.

 

“Careful there!” He said while steadying me.

But I managed to stand on my own. A Sparkling in my arms who was drooling onto my chest, his saliva dripping from my face plate and scratches as well as injuries covering my frame, but at least I was standing. I gave Shockwave a short nod and he instantly removed his hands. I walked a few steps and as I was certain I would not collapse again, I entered the main room, where a lot of scared Decepticons were. Most of them did not dare to look up; still to afraid of their encounter with the Scraplets, Insecticons or both, but the few who did looked shocked. I completely ignored them while I tried to contact Laserbeak again, absently rocking the Sparkling.

At first I was met by statics, but after they cleared I could make out Laserbeak’s signal.

>Laserbeak, report!<

>I am hacking into the system right now. I am on level four of five. In a few earth minutes the cooling system will be activated!<

>Make sure to leave out Shockwave’s laboratory. We do not want to undercool our systems down here, especially because I have a sleeping Sparkling in my care!<

>Understood!... Level five is reached!>

>Keep going!<

 

I turned to Shockwave, who was standing next to me again. Even without a word he knew exactly what he needed to now.

“So I presume Laserbeak is almost done?”

I nodded.

“Mh! What do you think is with Starscream, Knockout and Airachnid? Do you think they are still alive?”

**“Starscream … surely hidden! Knockout and Airachnid… who knows.”**

“I see. Do you think you can check the board cameras?”

 

_Of course, the board cameras! Why did I not think of them sooner?_

I hacked into the system, checking every available camera on the Nemesis, playing their pictures on my visor for Shockwave to see. The only thing I saw was destruction, death and feasting Scraplets. That was until I turned to the camera of Airachnid’s and Starscream’s chambers. There they were. They seemed to be quite alright, a little distressed maybe.

Shockwave nodded in acknowledgement and I shut the visor down.

“Is it not rather suspicious that they are both unharmed? I mean, they should have supervised the repairing, at least that is what on of these drones said!”, he pointed in one of the corners.

 

_Now that I think about it. It actually IS suspicious. Just so, as if they knew something would happen… but we had no evidence… I just have to have a better watch on them from now on!_

>Laserbeak to Soundwave. Level five accomplished, the cooling system is activated and in full progress!>


	19. Another Surprise...

Soundwave's POV:

 

I faced Shockwave again, but his attention was on some drones at the end of the room. They seemed to whisper something. I was about to spy on them as one of the drones pointed toward us and they looked in our direction. They noticed we were looking to so they quickly turned away again. There was a final nod and one of them stood up and slowly, very slowly, approached us.

Before he reached us, I nudged Shockwave into his side to regain his attention. He looked curiously and expecting at me, not used to achieve physical contact from me.

**“The system is online!”**

He nodded and turned away from me as the drone approached us.

“Commander Soundwave...are you all right?”

I was more than perplexed by the question, not awaiting anybot to care at all.

_He is planning something...Even when I would not feel well, I would certainly not tell this the drones...!_

Nonetheless I nodded, answering his question.

 

He seemed to be relieved.

“Thank the Allspark! We thought you might end like Lord Megatron, not able to command and give orders...”

He turned to look at his comrades who nodded wildly, trying on encouraging him to go on. It seemed to work, because he continued:

“We, the Decepticons on this ship, decided that we want you as our leading commander as long as Lord Megatron is not... capable.” He looked at the Sparkling. “You see, we had very bad experiences with commander Starscream, so we thought you could take his place...”

_Somebot will absolutely not be happy with this decision…_

“So… what do you say, sir?”

 

I looked around the room and noticed just now that all eyes were fixed on me.

_I was always the opinion that Starscream should not be a commander, but I was never able to do something about it, but now… now I would have the opportunity to show how incapable he really is…_

As I finally nodded my approval the Decepticons began to cheer, waking up the Sparkling, who began to cry at once. I started to gently rock the Sparkling soothing and calming him.

_Who would have thought they all hate Starscream that much… It is especially surprising if you consider my state right now…! Of course I have beaten him, more or less, in combat over the Sparkling, but I was never the born leader. Spy and adviser that are my tasks in Lord Megatrons service and I do absolutely not thing that I can lead somebot, it is not my nature… and Starscream’s neither!_

“Well then, commander Soundwave”, started Shockwave, “let us have a look whether our plan was successful, shall we?”

**“The Sparkling…”**

“Let him stay here! Here are enough Decepticons to protect him!”

_Enough Decepticons who will ran away, screaming, when danger approaches them, you mean…_

As I made no motion to put the Sparkling down or to give him to one of the drones, Shockwave sighed.

“Or just bring him along and watch for him yourself… but you know that the corridors will be cold and that will already be a danger to life for us, but for a Sparkling…”, he let the sentence trail of.

_Damn Shockwave and his bossy being!_

I finally gave the Sparkling to the drone that approached me earlier and stood still beside me.

**“Await further orders;… protect … Sparkling … stay here!”**

“Understood! I will see to it!” He saluted as best as he could with a squirming Sparkling in his arms and Shockwave and I made our way out of the room.

 

 

The temperatures were far under zero and the corridors we walked through, were empty and silent. Which was a good sign, since no Scraplets were flying around, trying to eat us, but one the other side we did not find their frozen bodies either.

As we walked around the next corner, Laserbeak flew toward us. I was barely able to stop Shockwave from shooting her, by holding my arm before his blaster.

“Phew, that was a close one…”

_Really?_

I ignored his further comment and continue walking. Laserbeak however reconnected to my chest and I winced at the sudden pain. An apologetic ping came from here and a worried look from Shockwave followed. I shrugged it of and turned around the next corner, stopping right in my track and with Shockwave bumping into me at my sudden halt.


	20. The Deception goes on

Soundwave’s POV:

 

Starscream and Airachnid, both completely unharmed, without even the tiniest scratch on their paint job. They were kicking at the motionless –and maybe even lifeless- bodies of the Scraplets and they were mumbling something inaudible for me. I looked at Shockwave, whose optic was dangerously narrowed. I looked back at Starscream and Airachnid again and started approaching them, Shockwave following close behind.

 

It seems Airachnid was alarmed by Shockwave’s heavy footsteps, because she nudged Starscream into his side and motioned with her head in our direction.

Starscream turned around as well. He looked me over and huffed.

“Ah, Soundwave, it seems you had some encounter with these little pests!”, he froze, “I swear, if something happened to our dear leader, then I will-“

“He is fully unharmed!”, Shockwave interrupted, “But what about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you not have a single scratch on your frame? It seems very illogic to me, according the given circumstances, especially since you wanted to supervise the repairing…!”

“Do you want to insinuate me something?”, Starscream moved closer to Shockwave.

“It depends!”, Shockwave’s and Starscream’s face were merely inches apart and Shockwave’s optic was still dangerously narrowed, while Starscream’s optics burned with anger.

 

“Hey there, dear fellows, you need to calm down. We have enough on our processors already, with Lord Megatron unable to lead the Decepticons and the damage on the ship, we cannot afford to kill or fight each other! Am I right, Soundwave?”

_Snake in the grass, but still, her words are right…_

I simply nodded.

“That still does not explain why you both are fully unharmed!”

“That has an easy reason, dear Shockwave! We were having a break you see, so we went to our quarters to find some rest, it was a exhausting day after all. Starscream was so kind to accompany me to my chamber and just before I entered, we heard screams above us and little after Knockout and a drone, I think Steve was his name, came running through the corridor, towards us. They told us that Scraplet were rampaging around the ship and we were about to check as some of these hideous creatures came around the next corner. Since we did not want to end up like Scraplet food, we entered my chamber and locked us up. Luckily the Scraplets did not see us! Have I forgotten something, Starscream?”

“No, you have said everything!”

Shockwave did not look convinced.

_I am neither, this story is completely wrong, but since we have no other prove, we have to stick to this lie…_

Airachnid noticed Shockwave’s glare, for she added:

“When you are still not convinced, then ask Knockout and Steve!”

“You can be sure, I will!”

With that Shockwave turned around and left me alone with Starscream and Airachnid, probably searching for the mentioned Decepticons.

_Thank you Shockwave, thank you very much. Just leave me alone with these two traitors! Alright, calm down Soundwave! Your first priority is to get rid of these Scraplets and then, you have to take care of the ship repairing. After that you can deal with Airachnid and Starscream._

_So, how to get rid of those little creatures, without the danger that they ever come back? They hate the cold… maybe we could send them to a cold place? The galaxy is pretty cold for example or to earth’s Antarctica. It is cold as well and will not need that much energy to open the ground bridge! Perfect! Now I just have to inform the Decepticons that they shall pick up the corpses of the Scraplets and bring them to the control room where I will open the ground bridge. Then they only have to throw them through and we got rid of them._

_And after that, Knockout can take a look at the injured Decepticons and the rest will start with the repairing._

“Soundwave, are you listening to me at all?”, Starscream yelled.

Instead of answering or even paying him any attention, I turned on my heel and headed right to the control room, leaving a dumbfounded Starscream behind me.

Fortunately they did not follow me, so I could give the command without any protest or interruptions. As soon as the command was given, I hacked into the remaining cameras of the ship and to my delight and surprise the drones were already following it and Starscream, as well as Airachnid, seemed confused at that.

_Maybe somebot should tell them who the drones elected as their leader for the time being… No, that would give away all the fun._

I shook my head and prepared the ground bridge, opening it right beside me and awaiting the drones to enter. And I did not have to wait long. I gave Knockout the command to look after the injured Decepticons, maybe some of them could still be saved, and then I headed back to the laboratory, where the drone from before was still waiting with the Sparkling.


	21. Flight turbulences

Soundwave's POV:

 

The Scraplets were removed from the ship rather quickly and the repairing started right after that as well. Starscream and Airachnid disappeared right after our little encounter. I let this not bother me more than necessary and turned my attention to the work at hand instead. I coordinated the work of the Deceptions and supervised the repairing, with a little help of Shockwave.

 

Everything went smooth, more or less. The only problem at the moment was the Sparkling. It looked as if the incident with the Scraplets took its toll on him as well, because there was barely a night he would recharge through. Actually there was no night he would recharge through.

He would wake up in the middle of every night and start to cry, probably from a nightmare, and he would not stop crying. No matter what I did, he would not stop and would not to back to recharge either. I played him lullabies, like the first time it happened, I told him stories – these stories were actually records from back on Cybertron, but some of them sounded so unbelievable, they could also be a fairy tale (like the humans call it) – I even rocked him and showed him movies for little human children in my visor, but to no avail.

He would keep going for the rest of the night till exhaustion got the best of him and he would fall in recharge at the beginning of a new earth day.

 

The result of this was accordingly no sleep – at least not much – for me either. _And believe me, you do not want to deal with me when I am not recovered enough._

Thankfully Shockwave took care of Megatron too. Some nights Shockwave and I would change chambers, so I could have at least one or two nights of full rest. _Although I believe he only does that, because he does not want to face me in a bad mood…_

Unfortunate, Starscream and Airachnid were not smart enough to leave me alone. On some days I would honestly prefer the Scraplets before the company of these two.

 

Yesterday however I did not hear a single thing from Starscream or Airachnid and neither did Shockwave, but there far more important matters at hand than these two.

I was as usual at the control bridge, watching over every activity onboard, till Shockwave entered that is.

“If you do not take this little nag, I will throw him out of the ship!”

With that he shoved the little Sparkling in my arms and stormed of. Megatron looked up at me with innocent eyes as if nothing had happened.

_Under normal circumstances I should be alarmed that Shockwave has threaten our leader, but since I knew Shockwave is even a worse morning con than me… give him time to fully awake or to fully recharge (that depends) and he will be his old self again... hopefully…_

I just shook my head and absently patted the Sparkling’s head. After a while he started sucking at my fingers – a habit he sadly accustomed to – and I was able to go back to work.

Shockwave eventually dropped by again later that day. He was just about to tell me something when a jolt went through the whole ship. We shared puzzled looks – even though he could not actually see my puzzled look – as the ship jolted once again and countless alarms popped up on the monitor.

“Commander, what is happening?”, some drones entered the control bridge. “Is everything all right?”

“Probably not…”, mumbled Shockwave.

Before anybot could say something else the ship started to tremble violently and a loud explosion could be heard in the distance, before the ship tilted and we had to grip on something solid so we would not fall.

“That sounded suspicious like our engine room blowing up!”, Shockwave stated.

“But how could that happen? I mean the drones are working on it, are they not?”

**“They are-“**

“And why are we crashing then?”, Starscream entered the bridge at this moment, closely followed by Airachnid.

_Great! These two did just miss…_

“Maybe some of our workers made a mistake! What do you think, Commander Soundwave?”, one of the drones suggested.

_How nice, they are actually defending me!_

“Commander Soundwave? I am second in command!”

“Oh, actually we selected Soundwave to our new leader for the time being…”

“How dare you?!”

“Enough! We have more important matters at hand than the commanding Decepticon! If you have not noticed it, we are crashing on these human planet!”, Shockwave almost shouted.

Starscream went absolutely silent while I stepped forward and gave my orders:

**“Preparations for crash-landing… search for a fitting landing place… alarm the troops… accede navigation!”**

“Yes, commander!”, the drones salutes and went to their tasks.

Some of them left for telling the troops and making other preparations while the remaining looked for a possible place to land and two of them tried their best to navigate the ship.

To my utterly surprise Airachnid even helped looking for a landing place and since time was short, her help was appreciated. _This time!_


	22. A plan is blowing up...

_Starscream’s POV:_

 

 _How dare he? How dare he to just turn around and walk away on me like he is the leader here and I am just a useless drone? I_ swear _, I will get him for that! He will pay! I swear to the Allspark, Soundwave will pay for everything!_

As soon as Soundwave has – so politely - left me, I headed with Airachnid right back to her room. Our plan was not a complete success. The Scraplets made some serious damage and Soundwave got a bad looking wound on his chest, but sadly neither he, nor Megatron were dead. We would have to think of something else.

 

“So, do you have any idea how to go on?”

“I am working on it!”, Airachnid snapped. “We have to be more careful! I fear Shockwave and Soundwave are taking suspicion. Our next move has to be planned even more careful now. Soundwave is no fool, he will spy on us.”

“I am not so certain that he will spy on us?”

“How so?”

“He has enough more important task at hand now. Searching for Energon mines, repairing the ship and taking care of Megatron. Spying on us would be his last point on the list, don’t you think?”

“Maybe…”

“I tell you what, we will wait a few days and do nothing. After the whole situation is calmed down a bit, we will act!”

“And what will we do?”

“We sabotage the repairing of course!”

“Sabotage the repairing?”, she rose one of her eyebrows.

“Indeed! We could make sure that the engine room takes a blow or two if you know what I mean!”

“The engine room? Do you want to kill us too?”

“I do not want to blow up the whole ship, I just want to make sure that we have to land somewhere or even that the ship cannot fly properly! Think about it, a Decepticon warship that does not fly and a crew that suffers from it!”

“I don’t know about it… how exactly do you want to do it?”

“Let this by my concern!”

She sighed and finally nodded! “But if you get caught, I will not have anything to do with it, do you hear!”

“Sometimes you have to risk something!”, and with that I left her chamber and went to my own.

 

_I know exactly what I am doing, thank you very much Airachnid! Just switch some cables and the engine will blow up and she ship will not fly but full out the sky like a stone._

\--------------------

A few days later, when the drones were having break, I sneaked into the engine room. I took me only a few second to switch cables and afterward I quickly made my way to the control bridge, so that nobody would become suspicious.

On my way through the corridors Airachnid eventually joined me and the ship already began to shake and to tremble. We hurried to the control room and I already saw the door to the room as an explosion could be heard and she ship tilted. I lost my balance and crashed right into the corridor wall.

 

I approached the door and I could hear voices from the inside:

“That sounded suspicious like our engine room blowing up!”, Shockwave said.

“But how could that happen? I mean the drones are working on it, are they not?”

**“They are-“, Soundwave answered.**

“And why are we crashing then?”, I inquired when I entered the control bridge.

 “Maybe some of our workers made a mistake! What do you think, Commander Soundwave?”, one of the drones suggested.

 “Commander Soundwave? I am second in command!”, I shouted.

“Oh, actually we selected Soundwave to our new leader for the time being…”

“How dare you?!”

_How dare these treacherous drones?! I am the second in command! I am the rightful leader of the Decepticons, not Soundwave. Honestly, what did he ever to for the Decepticons except following Megatron’s orders like a little puppy? He is no leader! I will make sure that he will get to know his place again! His place under my command, his place under me!_

 

“Enough! We have more important matters at hand than the commanding Decepticon! If you have not noticed it, we are crashing on these human planet!”, Shockwave finally shouted.

I went silent. You should not mess with Shockwave without any backup.

Shockwave stepped forward and played some records:

**“Preparations for crash-landing… search for a fitting landing place… alarm the troops… accede navigation!”**

“Yes, commander!”, the drones saluted and went to their tasks.

 

Some of the drones left and some of them remained here. Even Airachnid joined them, while I just watched.

 

_Soundwave, you just made yourself a dangerous enemy!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not sure if I should post the next chapter... considering the recent events...  
> I mean I could post two chapters tomorrow and everybody who does not want to read the crash can skip it.  
> I also could wait a month or so until I continue this story.  
> The problem is that I cannot change this chapter, for it exists since quite some time, actually the story is completely finished and completely published on FF.net...


	23. Treachery?!

_Soundwave’s POV:_

 

The landing was not as smooth as planned. In fact it was not smooth at all. Fortunately I had my tentacles to grab something for safety and so I was able to protect the Sparkling as well, but the drones and Shockwave were not that lucky. Some of the drones were even thrown out of the big windows and landed face first on the ground, while others just fell on the ground or against each other. Airachnid was able to cling to some control panels as well, while Starscreams was one of the few that crashed through the window.

_Quite an amusing sight, not that I would ever mention that aloud…_

I looked down at the Sparkling. Gladly I was greeted by an unharmed sight, even though he scolded.

_Almost as if he knew that it  was HIS ship that just crash-landed on this humans planet and that  it was HIS ship that is probably badly destroyed and in the worst case completely useless from now on._

I connected with the control panel and checked the status of the ship. Gladly most of the ship was still intact, even though the engine room is almost completely destroyed and we have to rebuild him. I hesitated a moment, but then I send a massage through the ship that all Decepticons should meet outside, at the front of the ship.

As I once again turned around, the drones and Airachnid were already heading outside. Shockwave remained by my side.

_I do not know what Airachnid is up to, but I do absolutely not like the way she is behaving right now. It is so unlikely Airachnid. If I did not know better, I would call it the silence before the storm, but can it really get even worse than now? Probably I should not have asked that…_

“Do I get it right that you want to check out who survived, who might be injured and who could have died during the explosion, before you give them their new orders?”

I nodded before I added: **“Tasks… remain the same… only worse conditions!”**

He nodded and we headed out to greet the troops.

 

The sight we were greeted with was even worse than expected. Most of the drones were injured; a lot were in bad conditions and the few who were unharmed did not look very pleased at all. They were talking to each other, but as soon as Shockwave and I left the ship, they grew silent at once.

 

We stepped onto ricks that were near b, so everybot would be able to see and to hear us properly.

**“Injured bots… to the medical centre… rest… start repairing… ship. Engine room… Energon supply … first priority!”**

The Decepticons nodded in agreement and retreated. Most of them followed Knockout into the ship.

“I should help Knockout…”, Shockwave added.

I just nodded my agreement and he left.

 

I decided to help as well. I would have a look at the engine room and work out plans for the restoring and needed material, but first I re-entered the control room, a group of drones close behind me. I logged into the system and tried to open a ground bridge. After the second attempt it worked.

 **“Energon mines!”** , I said, while I pointed to the bridge.

“Commander Soundwave, will you accompany us?”, one of the drones asked, while the others already stepped through the bridge.

I looked down to the Sparkling I still held. I could not let him alone, the ship neither, but I should keep watch as well.

**“I’ll send… Laserbeak!”**

He nodded and followed his comrades. Laserbeak undock herself and followed the drones.

 

After that I made my way to the engine room. It looked worse than expected. Half of the room was missing, the centre was still burning and the machines were completely destroyed as well. It will certainly take more time and more work for us to bring the ship back into the air, but we should be able, at least with Shockwave’s technical knowledge and the crafting skills of the drones. As long as Starscream and Airachnid are not going to do something stupid that is.

 

 

_Airachnid’s POV:_

_Starscream, this utterly idiot! He should make sure that the ship would not be able to fly properly, but that does not include blowing half of the ship up and forcing us to crash land onto this planet full of worms. And since neither Shockwave nor Soundwave are stupid, they will surely suspect that one of us is to blame. Damn Starscream and his stupid ideas. I should have never joined forces with him… I hope this whole mess is soon over so I can finally get rid of him too. … Maybe I should talk to Soundwave, surely he would not mind too much, if some ‘tragic accident’ happened to our ‘dear’ second in command, Starscream. Better not… it could not end well for me either…_

_For the time being I just should make sure that Starscream will not do more stupid things and that Soundwave will not get even more suspicious than he certainly is now… I should just pretend to be very interested in the repairing of the Nemesis… maybe I should offer my help to Soundwave… yes, I will do that._

With that I went into the control room, were I expected Soundwave to be.


	24. Unexpected allies

_Airachnid’s POV:_

Soundwave was not in the control room. I met Starscream there instead, who was climbing through the remains of our window.

“Starscream! You idiot! It would be a miracle if you did not ruin our plan! Soundwave will be more suspicious now. Good job!”, I scoffed at him before I left again.

 

_Soundwave’s POV:_

When I arrived at the engine room, there were already drones working on the repairing. I nodded at the leading drone and looked properly at the damage.

“Commander Soundwave, it will take us a week or two at most if the required parts are available!”

I nodded again. This was the first good news I had since Lord Megatron’s little incident.

 

I went on to check on Knockout and Shockwave in the Medbay. As soon as I arrived, Shockwave approached me.

“How is the repairing doing?”

**“Well… the patients?”**

“Some are gravely injured, while others merely have a few scratches. All in all it could have been worse.” I nodded. “If you need any help in your organisation and supervision you can count on me! …although I believe the worst is behind us! What could now go possible wrong?”

Just after he said that a loud explosion was heard. _I wish he wouldn’t have said that…_

“What was that?”, came the shocked question from Knockout.

 

Instead of answering I more or less pushed the Sparkling into Shockwave’s arms, turned around and started to run to the source of the explosion. When I reached the control bridge, I heard Airachnid's voice.

“Shockwave!”, Airachnid shouted. “Humans are attacking us! These blasted humans from M.E.C.H.!”

I didn’t stop to talk to her. I run just past her, out of the ship. Airachnid was right. The ship was surrounded by M.E.C.H. soldiers.

 

_Airachnid’s POV:_

I hurried after Soundwave and almost stumbled into him when he stopped abruptly. The whole ship was surrounded and weapons were drawn and pointed at us, or rather at Soundwave.

“Surrender and not much harm will be done!”, shouted one of them.

“As if we would believe you and surrender to you. We are Decepticons and we won’t bow before human scum like you, right Soundwave?”, The last part was mumbled and only for Soundwave to hear.

He only turned his head in my direction and I could see that he was connecting those, who were still able to fight.

“Last chance!”, another human said.

Soundwave took a few steps forward, more weapons were pointed at him, and activated his Resonance Blaster and hidden blades.

 

But before either of us could react, fire from behind the humans erupted. I was confused, because I couldn’t think of anybot who wasn’t on the ship just moment ago…

A few moments later, the Autobots appeared.

_Why are they here and why are they helping us? Maybe Optimus Prime has finally lost it for good or the truce was just a lie and they are actually hoping that we will be so defenceless that they can destroy us once and for all._

My thoughts were interrupted from a missile that exploded right next to me and I focused on the fight instead. I decided I would guard Soundwave’s back for now. If the Autobots really were after Megatron and our lives, Soundwave would be our best option for now.

 

It didn’t take long for us all to frighten away the humans. Prime motioned his Autobots to stay put and stepped forward. Battle mask still activated, but without any weapons. Soundwave retreated his weapons as well and stepped before Optimus Prime. Just now I noticed the height difference between the Prime and our communication officer.

“You have the information?”, the Prime finally spoke up.

Soundwave nodded and suddenly a ground bridge behind the Autobots was opened. Their medic, Ratchet, stepped through it, a data pad in his servos.

My curiosity was awakened now and I stepped forward as well, but stopped dead in my tracks as Soundwave shoot me a look.

_At least I thought that was what he was doing. It is hard to tell with the visor._

One of his tentacles appeared and connected with the medic’s data pad.

_So Soundwave was not calling for the remaining Decepticons, but for the Autobots and in exchange for their help, he promised them data. The question is, what kind of data…_

 

As soon as Soundwave had removed his tentacle; the Autobot leader nodded and motioned for his fellows to go back through the ground bridge. After the last of them vanished, Soundwave turned around and went back onboard, were an annoyed looking Shockwave and a crying Sparkling were awaiting him.


	25. Of finding a cure

_Soundwave’s POV:_

 

I had given the Autobots some of the locations of remaining artefacts. Of course none of great value was under them, but at least they were occupied with finding them, so they would not stumble over more powerful ones, at least for now.

 

After this little incident, the repairing went on and Energon was mined and brought to our ship. We stored it everywhere possible for now. In corridors, in rooms and chamber, some containers were also stored in the control room. The only rooms without any Energon containers were the Medbay and Shockwave’s laboratory and of course the machine room.

The drones were working fast and efficiently and according to my calculations, we would be stranded on this planet for one maximum two earth days. Then we should be able to fly again, at least somewhere safer and more hidden.

Somewhere, where no satellite would be able to detect us, because it is rather annoying to hack into one every half an hour to make sure we aren’t on any pictures.

The wounded drones were also fixed and after some rest most of them would be on their feet again and ready to work. The last and more critical patients were in Knockout’s care now, because Shockwave said he needed peace and silence now, especially because he was so close to find a cure for Megatron.

_This news should make me happy and jump from joy, but somehow I feel… sad. Is it because I am getting used to fuss for a little sparkling or just because I enjoyed seeing Megatron happy and as close family? As his own self, Megatron always looks so distant and unhappy and there is nothing I can do about. But while Megatron is a sparkling, I can make sure, he is well and happy._

_How pathetic this must sound… Presumably I am just feeling lonely and the sparkling was a good company, since he wouldn’t betray you or stab you in the back if you don’t watch him close enough. Of course I still have Laserbeak and she is family too, but she remains a pet; a good and obedient pet, but still a pet, nothing more and nothing less._

My thoughts were interrupted by Shockwave’s voice through the communicator: “Soundwave, my friend, you won’t believe it, but it is finally done. I have finished the cure. And I tested it on my pet, it works perfectly. Just as calculated. If you want, you can bring Lord Megatron into my laboratory, I will prepare everything!”

I sighed mentally and looked down at the Sparkling who was playing with one of my tentacles. It would all be over soon…

 

I picked him up and brought him to Shockwave, who had indeed prepared everything.

“Ah, there you are. I have to bring this tonic into Megatron’s system.”, he hold up a vile with orange fluid in it. “It will bring him into a comatose state. Do not worry; I will hook him up to my monitors in order to supervise his stats and the progress. It will take only a few moments for Megatron to reach his normal size again, but it will take some ours before he wakes up again. You can call it a side effect of the tonic.”

**“But… completely… safe?”**

“It is safe. As I already said, I tested it on other subjects and none of them are damaged or have any other side effects.”

I nodded and gave Megatron in Shockwave’s awaiting arms.

As if the sparkling knew, that something was going on around him, he grew distressed and started to struggle. He wanted back to me, that much was clear, but Shockwave needed space and air to do his job and I wasn’t so sure if I would allow him to proceed.

 

As soon as the tonic was in Megatron’s system, he grew more tired, every passing second, until he completely stopped struggling and crying and slept peaceful. Shockwave put him down onto a berth and hooked him up and then turned back to me.

“It is done!”

I nodded and turned away from the sparkling, somehow I wasn’t able to look at him, but before I stepped outwards, I asked a final question:

**“He… remember…?”**

“I am not sure. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. It would be logical for him to forget, since a grown up normally does not remember being a sparkling, but I can’t be sure.”

I nodded in understanding and finally left, leaving Shockwave and the sparkling alone.


	26. Time is up

_Airachnid’s POV:_

 

I was nervously walking through my chambers. I was impatiently waiting for my comrades to finally arrive. I was just about to punch something to let my frustration out, as my chamber doors opened and Starscream, as well as Knockout, entered. Steve was not far behind them.

“Finally, there you are!”

“Well, excuse me, Airachnid, but I have patients to take care of!”, snapped Knockout.

“And I have also work to do! So, why have you ordered us here?”

“I have summoned you, because we have to strike now!”

“Now? Are you serious? Why now?”, asked Knockout.

“Because Shockwave has found a cure and our time is running out. In a few hours he Lord Megatron will wake up and be his old safe again.”

“And what do you want us to do?”

“I fear, we have not many options, Starscream! We have to attack and kill Soundwave. As soon as Lord Megatron is back to his old self, we will not be able to kill Soundwave nor him and I fear it is just a matter of time, till Soundwave knows who caused these little ‘incidents’!”

“So you expect us to just run up to Soundwave and shoot him? Are you insane?”

“As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Starscream. We will never be able to defeat him!”

“Fortunately, we are four and Soundwave is alone!”

“What about Shockwave?”, inquired Steve quietly.

“What about him?”, asked Starscream.

“I guess Shockwave would help Soundwave as well.”

“Then we should take down Shockwave as well. He will not expect a drone and me, the doctor, to attack him.”

“So you and Steve will immobilize Shockwave while Airachnid and I distract Soundwave until you join us and then we will attack Soundwave!”

“This is the plan!”

“Good. Then what are you waiting for? Get going!”, I ordered.

 

_Knockout’s POV:_

 

_Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into this time?_

I mused as I made my way to Shockwave’s laboratory, Steve close behind me. We have agreed that I ask Shockwave for his opinion on one of the patients and Steve would attack him from behind. We both weren’t very fond of the idea of a combat fight with one of the few Decepticons who are a challenge to Megatron, especially since we would later attack one of them.

 

I took a deep comforting breath and entered the laboratory. Steve would wait outside and silently slip in a few minutes later.

“What do you want, Knockout?”

“Eh, well. I wanted your advice in one case?”

“Oh?”, came the surprised sounding response.

_As if I never ask for advice or help… now that I think about it… doesn’t matter now!_

“Would you take a look at these files for me and tell me, what you think about it?”

He nodded and I handed him the data pad. He immediately turned away from me and the door and I stepped next to him. The file was about one of my current patients. Actually I already decided what to do with him, but I was certain, Shockwave would think about it closely, weight all available options, before answering.

 

He was murmuring to himself while he was reading the file. I could see Steve stepping in from the corner of my optics. I motioned for him to take one of Shockwave’s inventions. The blaster he uses on patients in pain or rampaging beasts of his. It would send everybot it hits into a deep slumber for quite some time.

“As I see it, you should-“, Shockwave was interrupted by the sound of a firing blaster and a few second later, his optic went wide in realisation, before they went smaller and closed. I was barely able to dodge the fallen bot, who landed graceless on the floor, optic first.

“Good job!”

“Thank you, sir!”

“And now let us join Airachnid and Starscream, before they start the… fun, before us!”

The drone nodded and put down the blaster.

“You should take him with you or do you expect Soundwave to go down without a big fight?”, I scolded him.

“The blaster needs time for another shoot and I thought, we have not enough time to wait till he is ready again.”

“Damn Shockwave. He cannot make something useful without any other upcoming problems!”, I huffed in annoyance. “Then just keep going!”

 

With that we left the laboratory, locked the door behind, so nobot would find Shockwave, and made our way to the control bridge.


	27. Final Attempt

Halfway we met Starscream and Airachnid, who locked irritated and confused.

“What is going on, why are you not in the control room, checking on Soundwave?”

“We were in the control room just now, but Soundwave is not there.”, explained Starscream.

“We just wanted to check on you. I thought he might be with Lord Megatron and Shockwave in the laboratory.”

“There were only Shockwave and Megatron. Even though I didn’t really saw Megatron, since he was behind some kind of curtain, but there was no Soundwave in the laboratory!”

“Where else could he be?”, asked Starscream.

“Maybe he is his quarters…?”, suggested Steve.

“Then we should look there! Follow me!”

 

We all followed Airachnid through the corridors. We headed deeper into the ship, in sections, I never knew even existed.

“Where exactly are we going?”, I wanted to know.

“We have to reach the ship’s core. Lord Megatrons quarter lies there and right next to it, Soundwave’s.”

“How do you even know where Soundwave’s quarter’s are, Airachnid?”

“Because in the opposite to you, Starscream, I do my homework and I am prepared for all outcomes!”

 

The rest of the walk, we were silent. The echoes of our steps were the only sound. Finally we stopped before two doors. Airachnid immediately went to the right one and was locking at the control panel. After some time and silent cursing from Airachnid, the door swung open and revealed a dark room.

 

_Airachnid’s POV:_

As the door slid open, we were greeted with darkness. I could make out a few shelves and tools. At the end of the room was a sparkling-sized bed, right at the foot of a berth. A few toys were lying around as well and atop of one of the shelves sat Laserbeak.

I focused my gaze back onto the berth, where Soundwave laid still, like a corpse. His fingers were twitching sometimes, a sign that he wasn’t recharging, only deep in thoughts. I have seen him doing it before, especially when he was decoding the data of the relics.

“He looks like a corpse.”, whispered Starscream.

I motioned them to be quiet and carefully and ever so quiet, made my way to the move less body. I silently activated my weapon and pointed them at Soundwave’s visor.

 

_Soundwave’s POV:_

I had decided to go back to my chambers in order to collect my thoughts. I was thinking about Lord Megatron, the last few days and about myself.

_I wonder what would happen, if Lord Megatron would indeed remember everything that happened these last few days. Would he be grateful or would he demand that I erase these memories from my processor and the processors of all Decepticons. It would be possible, but cruel and dangerous as well. One mistake and the bot would loose his whole memory… but what if Lord Megatron will know nothing of these incidents? What will he say about the condition of the ship and the crew? Will he be disappointed in me? Surely, but as long as he will not see me as a traitor for making a truce with the Autobots and giving them the locations of some relics…_

_Would he kill me or just cast me away? He never did so with Starscream… but Starscream never contacted the Autobots and required help and peace…_

I was startled from the sound of a quiet voice. I hadn’t focused enough and couldn’t say whose voice it was or if it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. I opened my optics and listened for any other sound or indicator and I could swear I heard the sound of an activated weapon. I forced myself to lay completely motionless and I waited. Suddenly a shadow above me appeared and a blaster was pointed at my visor.


	28. Outnumbered

_Soundwave’s POV:_

I acted on instinct. I grabbed the arm of whoever stood above me and moved him just in time. The blast went inches away from my head. I was fully focused know and could recognize Airachnid. I twisted her arms, still lying on my back, and she gasped in pain. I pushed her away from me and she landed a few feet away, landing on the ground and grasping her arm.

Just now I realised that she was not alone. Starscream, Knockout and Steve, one of the drones, were also standing in my chamber and were gawking at me and Airachnid. I got up and turned to look at them and they snapped out of their trance.

One of my tentacles grabbed the resonance blaster and connected it to my frame and Laserbeak had woken up from her recharge and was now hovering above me.

I could hear Airachnid getting up behind me.

**“Damn traitors!”**

“Watch it Soundwave, you are clearly outnumbered, but if you surrender without a fight, we might let you stay alive. You only have to let us kill Megatron and follow our orders from now on.”, Starscream explained.

“You see, Soundwave. There won’t be much change. We just change who is in charge. Think about it, even you might become the new leader of the Decepticons. You could rule, together with us!”, Airachnid added.

**“Liar!”**

“Have it your way then. Starscream, Knockout, get ready to kill him!”

 

I got into my fighting stance and activated the resonance blaster as well as my hidden blades and tentacles.

_I should have got rid of them when I had the change. And I should have know that all these ‘accidents’ were actual their doing. Damn them._

 

_Airachnid’s POV:_

Soundwave tensed obviously and readied his weapons. There would be no way that he will survive this day. I would make sure of it. I gave my comrades a signal and we started to attack him at the same time.

 

Soundwave barely dodged Knockout’s saw and could only deflect Starscream's and Steve’s blasting attack. His little pet was attacking me and I tried to hit it with my webs. This turned out to be harder than I thought, because the beast was faster and more agile than I had imagined. A thud was heard and I looked away from the flying pest to see Steve on the ground, Starscream trapped under him. It seemed that Soundwave had landed a good hit. He dodged Knockout’s attack once more, spun around and ran out of the door. Knockout followed and was promptly flying back into the chamber, because of Soundwave’s little toy.

 

Soundwave’s pet made a loop midair and I was finally able to hit it. My webs caught the little pest and glued it to the opposite wall.

From the corner of my optics I could see Steve getting up again and running outside. A loud bang was heard and a second one was heard a few moments later.

I made my way outside, just in time to see Soundwave to use one of his tentacles to drill a hole into the drone’s chest.

Steve was screaming from pain and suddenly the tentacle stopped to rotate. For a moment I thought Soundwave had shown mercy, but then he pulled out with a jerk. Soundwave had ripped out the drone’s spark and took it into his hand. He turned around to me and his slender fingers closed around the crystal. He was squeezing his hand shut and the crystal shattered in thousand pieces.

“I think Soundwave is pissed…”, sounded Knockout’s voice behind me.

“You think?”, retorted Starscream.

“Stop talking. We have no chance when we rush things. We have to work together. Starscream, you will stay here; Knockout and I will encircle him!”, I hisses and finally activated my battle mode.

“If we survive this, remember me, that I will never help you guys again. I am a doctor, damn it, not a warrior!”

 

I wasn’t able to reply to that, because Soundwave was dashing forward now.

_Damn it, since when is he so offensive?_


	29. The damage is done

_Starscream’s POV:_

Somehow Knockout and I were able to creep behind Soundwave, who gave all his attention to Airachnid. He fought off all of Airachnid’s fast attacks, she really gotten better since the last time these two had a fight. Soundwave was still able to get a hold of two of her arms and I saw our chance. Apparently Knockout had seen it too, for he was already dashing forward, his saw-blades rotating.

I saw Soundwave turning around, letting go of Airachnid and jumping back, but he wasn’t fast enough to completely dodge the attack.

Knockout’s blades were shining with Energon and Soundwave was clutching his abdomen. Soundwave straightened up again and I saw the Energon pouring from the wound. It wasn’t deep, but at a spot that damn hurt.

 

_I am speaking from experience. Even though I doubt, Soundwave will go down that easily._

He was now standing with his back to the wall and if on command, Knockout, Airachnid and me lunged forward and started to attack.

Most of our attacks went nowhere or were blocked, but one of us hit the jackpot, by crashing his fist into Soundwave’s visor, sending said bot to stumble. The visor had a few cracks and apparently Soundwave was left disoriented.

Airachnid took the opportunity by piercing his shoulder plates with two of her spider legs and I pinned Soundwave’s right arm to the wall, so he wasn’t able to use the resonance blaster. His other arm was pinned by Airachnid as well. Knockout stepped forward.

“Now, let the doctor have a look!”, he grinned madly.

 

Soundwave was starting to tremble now. I would have laughed, but the shaking made it harder to pin down his arm.

I realised too late that exactly this was his intention and as Knockout took a swing with his blade he moved his arm protectively for his body and dragged me with.

I felt the blade cutting through my back and through cables and other internal organs. I let out a scream of pain and the shocked gasp of Knockout was the last thing I heard, before everything around me went black.

 

 

_Knockout’s POV:_

_Starscream the foul, he had not been careful enough. As soon as I had realized what was happening, I had retracted my blade, but the damage was already done._

Starscream let out a cry and went unconscious, from the pain without doubt. Soundwave shook him off and Starscream landed motionless on the ground, facing away from us and presenting his shredded back.

Soundwave was now facing Airachnid again, who was looking at him with wide and almost fearful optics. At least I thought he was looking at her, it was hard to guess, especially with the now broken visor. For a moment I could swear I saw something purple flicker under it, as Soundwave raised his right arm and cut through Airachnid’s legs before shooting her with the resonance blaster, sending her crashing into the wall. I quickly leaped forward, but Soundwave just grabbed my arm, twisted it, so the blade was facing me and pushed it into my body.

 

 

_Airachnid’s POV:_

Knockout was out as well; he was falling to the ground and stayed there, leaving me alone with Soundwave. Speaking of which, he was pulling out the remains of my legs out of his body. With a little bit of satisfaction I noticed I had missed one of his vital lines by mere inches. The satisfaction didn’t last long, for Soundwave was slowly walking towards me. I quickly got to my feet. My gaze was fixed on Soundwave’s broken visor as he came nearer and nearer. He was standing right in front of me and somehow I couldn’t bring myself to move, not even as he raised his blade.

I expected to feel the stabbing pain every moment now, but instead I was surprised when Soundwave was rammed through the corridor wall. I blinked a few times, before my limbs responded again and before I was finally able to look what had happened.

Leaning and huffing against the hole in the wall, was Knockout. He was clutching his chest, were a nasty looking wound was.

“Nobody ruins my paintjob!”, was his comment before he went after Soundwave.

I collected myself before I followed suit.


	30. Numb

_Airachnid’s POV:_

I arrived just in time to see Knockout sitting on Soundwave’s chest and threatening said bot’s visor with his saw blade. Soundwave had gained a few more dents and wounds. Some of them deep and bleeding rapidly. He tried to keep Knockout at bay with his own arms, while his tentacles searched for a spot to attach to.

 

_Apparently he isn’t so good coordinated without seeing anything through his visor. The fact that his head could be cut into two halves could be an indicator as well._

Somehow Soundwave’s tentacles were able to find their target and Knockout was electro shocked. His limb body was pushed off and Soundwave tried to push himself up again. His visor was even more broken than before. A few little pieces were already missing, but I still couldn’t identify anything.

_Maybe Soundwave really has no face…_

Soundwave looked disorientated and dizzy and I slowly made my way towards him. I took a brick from the ground and threw it across the room. Soundwave’s head snapped up and he immediately turned to the sound.

“What’s the matter, Soundwave?”, I sneered, “Is your visor broken or are you just dizzy from loss of Energon?”

Soundwave turned around again and got into defence stance. I quietly walked around him. I activated my blaster and shot him a few times from different locations. Of course he tried to attack me every time I revealed my position, but the only one he hurt in the progress, was he himself. His movements soon became frantic and more slowly. He was getting tired. Not from the battle, but from the loss of Energon and the tiresome events, I assumed. At some point his knees started to shake and soon they buckled violently. I grinned as he knelt on all fours on the ground, exhausting has finally taken its toll on him.

I stood in front of him, but did not let my guard down yet. I knew that the spymaster often had a second plan and I had not come this far, only to fail at the last minute.

_I cannot believe it, a blind, tired and almost defenceless Soundwave at my mercy. This must be my lucky day._

 

_Soundwave’s POV:_

 

“Since I am in a good mood right now, I will consider giving you a second chance. You have to yield and bow to me. Join forces with me, become my second in command. We will get rid of Starscream and Knockout and you and I can lead the Decepticons, together! What do you say, Soundwave?”

_As if I would sink so low and bow to scum like you… I would rather join the Autobots and Optimus Prime then obeying any of your orders!_

**“Soundwave… never surrenders… to scum! Lord Megatron… only leader!”**

I could almost imagine her angry look.

“If that is your last answer, then you have just signed your death warrant!”

 

I could make out the sound of a warming blaster that was very close to my head. If it weren’t for Lord Megatron, I couldn’t care less about what was going to happen now. I would feel no pain; I am feeling no pain from any of my wounds right now. My whole body feels numb and I just want to close my optics and fall into recharge. I just hoped that Shockwave, wherever he is, could stop Airachnid before it’s too late.

 

The sound of a firing weapon was the last thing I registered, before everything went completely numb and I fell into darkness.


	31. Last Minute

_Shockwave’s POV:_

At first I was puzzled, for I was lying on the floor, face down, before I remembered what had happened. Knockout had trapped me.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and it was just then, that I noticed, I was not alone. I tried to push me up, but found that I still felt to dizzy and sore to get up. Suddenly I was hauled up by my shoulders and sat on my own operating table.

I tried to focus and gazed up, right into the face of Lord Megatron, back to his old self.

“My lord!”

“Shockwave, what has happened here?”

“I don’t quite know. I just remember Knockout and one of the drones and then, nothing… my lord, it surprises me to see you up so soon.”

_It seems my calculations had been wrong after all._

He looked away; clearly not comfortable with the situation.

_So he does remember what had happened._

“Where is Soundwave?”, he asked instead.

“I fear, I do not know that either, my lord. He was absent the moment I gave you the cure…”

“Mmh…”, he turned away and looked deep in thoughts.

“My lord, is everything alright?”

“I have a strange feeling… as if something I wrong…”, he turned around and fixed me with a glare, “stay here, I will examine something!”

I nodded and he left with fast strides.

 

_Megatron’s POV:_

_I had a feeling that something was greatly amiss._

I made my way through the long corridors of the ship. Passing some damaged parts and only a few drones, who were so deeply engrossed in their tasks, they didn’t notice me.

 

_Soundwave did a great job in taking care of my ship and the Decepticons, especially when you consider the – let’s call it incidents – that have happened. I had no doubt that my treacherous second in command had something to do with this, but certainly not alone._

_Speaking of Soundwave, where is he? Surely he must have noticed me. Unless he is not at the control bridge, but recharging in his chambers._

I promptly turned and followed other corridors. I wanted to check on my third in command. I still had the feeling that something wasn’t right and since I hadn’t seen Airachnid or Starscream I at least wanted to check if Soundwave was alright.

 

As I reached the deeper parts of my ship I could make out faint noises. I couldn’t quite place their source, but they made me more suspicious, especially since almost no one was allowed into these parts of the Nemesis.

I carefully went on. Readying my weapons, just in case, and the noises became louder, to a point were I could make them out as fighting.

 

This alarmed me and I started running towards the source. I came to an abrupt halt as I saw the motionless bodies of Starscream and one of the higher ranked drones on the ground. The rest of the corridor was dusted and there was a big hole in the wall. It led into my personal training arena, which I used to use with Soundwave as my sparring partner. I carefully stepped through it and I was greeted by an even worse sight.

Knockout was unconscious lying on the ground as well and in the centre of the room stood Airachnid. She stood above a greatly damaged Soundwave, who looked as if he would collaps any moment now.

“Since I am in a good mood right now, I will consider giving you a second chance. You have to yield and bow to me. Join forces with me, become my second in command. We will get rid of Starscream and Knockout and you and I can lead the Decepticons, together! What do you say, Soundwave?”, sounded her voice, which brought my Energon to boil.

Soundwave looked up and I was shocked to see that Soundwave’s visor was completely damaged. It would be a miracle if he could make out the slightest detail with it anymore.

 **“Soundwave… never surrenders… to scum! Lord Megatron… only leader!”** , came his reply.

 

I felt my chest swell with pride. Soundwave is really unique, something special and different. I have never met a bot, who is as loyal as he is.

 

Airachnid’s fist clenched and I saw her trembling in anger.

“If that is your last answer, then you have just signed your death warrant!”

She raised her arm and pointed her blaster right at Soundwave’s head. I had heard enough and was raising my weapon as well. I targeted her upper backside, where her spark chamber laid and shoot.

For a moment I thought, I saw Soundwave flinch, but it may have been just my imagination. I saw Airachnid sliding through the ground with a hole in her chest and clearly dead. I lowered my weapon and walked forward. I reached Soundwave just in time, for he slumped forward and felt unconscious. I was barely able to catch him and lifted him up now.

I knew I had to be fast; Soundwave’s life depended on me. I turned around, ignored the motionless bodies and made my way back to Shockwave’s laboratory.


	32. Epilogue

I was walking through the abandoned and repaired corridors of the Nemesis. The drones did a good job in repairing the ship and bringing it back into the air.

_I wonder if they would have worked as good when Starscream had been the commanding officer. Probably not. Soundwave had just a better influence on them._

I shook my head to get my thoughts together. The ship seemed extinct with all the drones missing. They were attending the funeral on the deck. It wasn't even a real funeral. The bodies would be burnt and the ashes dispersed.

I have allowed them to abandon their post, to take part in the funeral. Lots of their comrades had died after all.

 

I wouldn't take part, I had no reason to., for I had not particularly known the drones. Besides, death was not avoidable in war.

 

I came across the chamber that used to be Soundwave's. It was almost completely destroyed. They had found Laserbeak rampaging in there. As soon as she was free, she had flown through the whole ship, in search for her master and friend. She had eventually found him in Shockwave's laboratory, hooked to countless machines, clinging for live.

Shockwave had put her into stasis as soon as he got a hold on her. She was mental unstable, had Shockwave said.

 

I focused back on the here and now. Surprised I found myself right before the door to Shockwave’s laboratory. My body had moved on its own account, without me noticing where he went.

 

I huffed and entered the dimly lit room and I could barely make out Laserbeak's sleeping frame on the operating table. Slowly and silent, to not disturb her rest, I moved towards her and lightly stroked her frame.

_I once thought her odd. I even thought Soundwave and his whole behaviour odd. But I have gotten used to them and eventually we have become almost inseparable._

 

I sighed and finally went further into the room. At he back of it stood a lone berth and on it laid the motionless body of his third in command. Soundwave had fought for him and almost lost his live in the progress. He was out of the worst, but still not well and functional. And he hadn’t woken yet.

I took a chair from the other side of the room and sat beside his comrade. One of Soundwave’s hands was twitching and I immediately took it into my way larger and bulkier one. I stared down at our joined hands.

_Sometimes I wonder if it really was the right decision to let Soundwave stay onboard of the Nemesis instead of going into battle with me. He used to be a gladiator after all, and a damn good one; Soundwave was the only real challenge back in the arena…_

_But he never showed any signs of disapproval of my decision, but I am thinking of Soundwave. He never shows any sign of his current state and how he feels. Maybe I should have asked him. On the other side, I wouldn’t trust any other of my Decepticons to do Soundwave’s job as good as he does, they are all way too incapable of following the easiest orders after all._

_Maybe we could have prevented this outcome if Soundwave and I would still be training together, like we just to do back on Cybertron, before the war._

“Damn you, Soundwave! Why must everything be so complicated with you?”, I snapped.

I felt something squeezing my hand. I looked up confused as I realized it was Soundwave. Only now I noticed that his visor was missing and instead of a blank mask, I was gazing right into his purple glowing eyes.

I had never seen Soundwave without his mask before and it shocked me to see that they were so full of emotions, while Soundwave himself always seemed so untouchable and distant. He looked at me with a mixture of confusion, concern and tiredness.

“Soundwave: did something wrong?”

I had seen his lips moving, but I still couldn’t believe I had heard him talk. I had never heard him talk, scream or make any other kind of sound. He must have interpreted my silence for a yes, for he continued: “Megatron: angry and disappointed?!”

It was more a statement than a question and he lowered his gaze to look at our joined hands. He looked sad and ashamed.

“You didn’t do something wrong! You never do!”, I hastily said.

_After all he has done for me, after all he has sacrificed for me, he still doubts himself…_

He looked up again and got into a sitting position.

“Soundwave: glad Megatron is back. Megatron: feeling well? Megatron: saved Soundwave?”

“I feel as good as somebot can feel when his comrade and friend nearly died. And yes, I saved you. But you did well nonetheless!”

“Megatron: not friend.”, he continued more silently: “Megatron: family.”

I couldn’t help but smile at him. I took the back of his head in my other hand and let our foreheads touch in a comforting manner.

For a moment he looked surprised and tense and I feared I had overstepped my bonds, but he quickly returned the smile and relaxed.

“Well, we are making an odd looking family, don’t you think. You, me and Laserbeak…”

His optics widened and he suddenly moved away.

“Laserbeak: alright?”

“At ease Soundwave! Shockwave put her into recharge, but she is fine! She is lying on the operation table over there.”

He nodded, closed his eyes and exhaled audibly. I could tell that he was exhausted, so I said:

“Now rest, old friend! This time, I will watch over you! But there will be no lullaby!”

“Lullaby: not desirable”, he said, while lying back down and closing his eyes.

“Are you implying that I cannot sing?”

I swore I heard a faint chuckle.

“Megatron: other qualities.”

“I hope so…”

 

_There was still much work for Soundwave and me to do. For example making sure, Starscream will never interfere with us again. He may be banished, but he still has too much knowledge. Then there is the issue with Knockout. While I am sure, he was just after some power, he did betray me and the Decepticon cause. But Knockout is also our only available doctor right now. But at least we got rid of Airachnid…_

I sighed and leant back.

_We have much to do, but for now I will make sure, Soundwave gets well again and then, then we can look forward._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it.  
> I hope you guys enjoyed reading this story.  
> Please leave a comment ans maybe we'll hear from each other again.  
> Till then! :)

**Author's Note:**

> My Tumblr: inkognito97.tumblr.com


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